Spored
by V rex
Summary: FINISHED. Infected by a Puffstool and thrust into a bleak world of terrifying dangers...One Mushroom Pikmin will question the sanity of his own possessed mind as he witnesses the unrelenting horrors that make up the cost of survival.
1. Spore

I awaken to hear the sound of my onion landing, followed by the sound of the Leaders ship shutting down. Everything is quiet for a second then I hear the sound of the Leader's footsteps on the ground. I can hear them getting closer he's coming to my onion!

I hear the Leader again; he's calling for 50 blue pikmin. I scramble out of the blue onion crawling down one of the large brown stems that poke out of our home. Making it to the bottom I look around at the environment and sigh in displeasure, it is the dead waste land. Other blue pikmin beside me groan in annoyance too. It's too dry here; the ground is hard and hurts when you step on it. The only thing good about this place is the large bodies of water that litter the area. I hope we get to go in one today, perhaps that's why he called us blues out.

The Leader is now moving towards the red onion. He stands under the beam of scarlet light seeming to make calculations with his hands. Than out of the brown stems red pikmin crawl down, chattering enthusiastically. They all gather around the Leader who faces us and calls us to join the reds. We march over, since I am a leaf bearer I'm slow and one of the last to make it. I hate my leaf and die to have a flower or at least a bud. When ever the Leader finds what we call nectar I'm never there. The flower pikmin say it's the best thing that can happen to a pikmin, to drink nectar.

There's 30 red pikmin with us, and I don't think the Leader's going to take out the yellow pikmin today. He now leads us over to the ledge of the plateau that our ships always land on. There's a ramp leading down and the Leader leads us down that. I run as fast as I can but still slowly the flower pikmin pass me followed by the bud pikmin. I hate being the slowest, well maybe not the slowest as I'm ahead of all the other leaf bearers.

When we reach the bottom the Leader turns left and we follow. Up ahead there's a large body of water, my gills open in excitement and I run faster. Guarding the beach though is a large grayish creature. Its eyes are blue and it has a snout with is red at the tip. It waddles around mindlessly on its four pitiful stumpy legs. I've seen these creatures before, they breathe fire out of their snouts so only the reds can fight them. I had to learn that the hard way.

The Leader dismisses us and the calls the reds to his side, he approaches the creature cautiously. He tries to circle around to the left side of the creature, but it sees it coming. The creature spouts fire out if it's snout sending it right for the Leader. All red pikmin in the way are caught up in the blaze but are not burned, instead they seem happy to be engulfed by the inferno. The Leader though has to skillfully dodge out of the way as his suit can't stand fire. He now starts picking up red pikmin one by one and tosses them onto the creature's large body. It roars in pain as each red pikmin buries it sharp nose into its hide again and again. The creature then shakes the pikmin of its body scattering them everywhere. A few of the reds almost land in the water; quickly though the Leader calls the red pikmin to his side and begins to toss them at the creature again. Each red pikmin flips through the air several times before landing on the creature and jamming their sharp noses into its body. In a few seconds the creatures roars again in agony and falls to the ground defeated. No red pikmin have died because of the Leader's skill. The Leader now orders the red pikmin to carry the body back to their onion. The red pikmin all surround the carcass in a circle and pick it up. They begin the long journey back to the onion were the creature's body will be recycled for more red seeds.

The Leader now calls the blues to his side. I rush over being the first leaf pikmin there and almost beating a blue sporting a bud on his stem. The Leader now leads us into the water. A few red pikmin that didn't carry the creature back now lay on the beach lazily watching us. In the distance up ahead I see a pair of red eyes watching us and suddenly a second pair appears too.

A blue pikmin with a bud beside me asks "Hi this is only my second day, do you know what those eyes are up ahead?"

"I have no idea", I reply back. I'm not usually the talkative kind of pikmin. New comers talk the most, always asking questions, or the yellows, yellows just won't shut up.

Up ahead I can see the outline of the creatures bodies, the red eyes stare at us rarely blinking. In between the two large creatures is another one of those "metal treasures" that the Leader collects. Every single day we hunt for these unusual objects, with no idea what purpose they serve except that they always join with the Leader's ship.

Suddenly, one of the creatures with the red eyes jumps into action. In midair it stops over us, I can tell by the large shadow that is covering most of the pikmin. The Leader frantically leads us away from the shadow as the creature slams down into the water. None of the pikmin gets crushed, with the last leaf bearer narrowly escaping the creature. The creature looks like one I've fought before, that creature was yellow and green and had black eyes, and this creature seemed to be grayish white and has red eyes.

The Leader now commands us to swarm the creature. I charge at it and begin to attack with all my might hitting it again and again with my leaf, other pikmin beside me do the same. The creature unexpectedly jumps into the air knocking all pikmin attacking it backwards. I am completely submerged in the water, looking up I can see the creatures body floating in the air, it's tiny arms paddling to keep it up. The Leader now whistles to us, I immediately jump up and run to him as the creature slams down behind me. This time not all pikmin make it as I can hear the sound of a couple pikmin being crushed. The Leader decides to turn to a different strategy; he starts to toss us on top of the creature's back. I cry in glee as the Leader picks me up and tosses me. I do several flips before slamming into the creature's body. I hit it again and again with my leaf. The creature suddenly jumps up into the air again with me on his back. Other pikmin beside me look down to the ground far below in fear, others still hit the creature. I see the pikmin that talked to me earlier; he's hugging the creature in a panic, afraid that he will fall. Then the creature slams back down into the ground again.

The force of the impact throws me away from the creature. Sending me into the water, I'm very glad that I have gills. The Leader whistles to us again, I get up and rush to him. I see the creature that I attacked is dead, and the Leader is now ordering the other blue pikmin to attack the second creature that looks just like the first one. Before I get a chance to lay a hit on the second creature, it roars and slumps to the ground dead. Pikmin start to chatter about the battle, the one blue pikmin with the bud I talked to earlier approaches me.

"Did you see how high that monster jumped the one time, and I was right on top of it!" he says excitedly.

"I ways up there too", I reply not saying much as usual.

"Really wasn't that cool? I swear I could see the Leader's ship and our onions from up there, those lazy red's haven't even finished bringing back the one creature to their onion…", he says, but before he can say more the Leader calls us to him with the whistle. He now order's us to carry back the metal treasure that the two creatures were guarding. I try to grab on but the bud pikmin stops me.

"Let's stay with the Leader", he says with his over enthusiastic voice "It's no fun bringing parts back".

He has a point I realize, with a shrug I walk over with my "friend" to the Leader. The other pikmin who also didn't carry back come over too, there's eight of us. I wonder how many pikmin had died in the battle. The Leader now leads us back onto the shoreline, there he whistles to the red pikmin who had been waiting on the beach. The bud pikmin talks to me again.

"I forgot to ask, how many days have you been around", he asks me.

"Six or seven", I reply. I have to struggle to keep up with him as he is a bud pikmin; he notices this and slows down a little.

"Wow, you've been around for a long time it's a pity that you don't have a flower or at least a bud yet. I wish I could've stayed in the ground as a sprout for little bit longer as I could feel my bud begin to open, but then the Leader plucked me. Ah well". The bud pikmin stops as we enter a weird dark area I haven't seen before.

The dark place had little glowing blue mushrooms everywhere. It's sort of eerie and it's to quiet. I suddenly wish that I had brought the metal treasure back to the ship. The red Leader is about to lead us down into the mushroom place when three small bugs pop out of the ground right in the middle of our group. Each bug is dark green and has a small circular mouth; they have two small wings on their backs and orange eyes. The surprise attack catches the Leader off guard but he quickly tells us to attack the bugs. One bug quickly snatches a red pikmin and begins to suck it in to its circular mouth. I quickly bash the creature with my leaf. Other pikmin also surround the bug, in seconds it is dead and the red pikmin still alive. One of the other bugs also dies but the last one tries to escape on its two wings. The Leader tosses a red pikmin at the flying insect, making a direct hit. The bug falls to the ground and is quickly swarmed by pikmin. Below me I can still hear other creatures tunneling underground but they don't surface.

The Leader now leads us down into the mushroom area. Eerie shadows are cast upon the ground; the whole place has a blue hue to it. My bud friend is beside me looking around nervously, he doesn't like this place either. I can't see any enemies could they possibly be underground, what if it's one of those giant serpent creatures with the beak?

The Leader now takes us around a corner and into a wide open area. There are still mushrooms here but there is also a creature. The creature looks like a giant mushroom except its not glowing. Instead the top is dark red and the bottom is pale yellow. It has two yellow things sticking out on top of his head supporter by stems, I don't know if they're eyes or something else. The creature has two stubby legs to support its bulky body, I also can't see a mouth, and I guess that's a good thing.

The giant mushroom notices us and starts to run away. The Leader begins to chase it and we follow. The area is small though so the mushroom soon has nowhere to go, it starts run into the cliff as if thinking it'll get through. The Leader stops short of the mushroom and begins to toss pikmin on its large flat head. The creature now begins to sway as about fifteen pikmin pile on it. Right before I get tossed the mushroom loses balance and topples over, its legs kicking in the air. The Leader now tosses me onto the creatures upside down body. I start hitting the mushroom with my leaf. This part of the creature's body seems more delicate then his red, flat head as I can feel the mushroom get weaker and weaker.

Suddenly in a burst of stamina the mushroom flips its self right side up again, throwing all pikmin on its body away. I am thrown against wall of the cliff, and I groan in pain, other pikmin beside me slowly get up. The mushroom towers over us, and it begins to shake. The Leader notices the danger and whistles to us to return to him, I immediately get up and begin to run to the Leader. I hear a weird noise come from above, I look up to see a large purple mist falling from the mushroom's head. The other pikmin and I run faster, but I can see pikmin on my left and right get engulfed by the mist. I try dodging the mist, but then it too engulfs me. As spores enter my body through the gills, the last thing I see is my bud friend reaching for me………………..

**Note that I had to write this story without using the pikmin game (No I don't have it) so don't criticize me if the forest naval or anything else wasn't as accurate as it should be.**


	2. Gems

He's changed……..

He's now purple instead of blue, has a mushroom instead of a leaf, lost his gills, and has no pupils. He can't control himself, but he doesn't care, the spores have gone to his head. He's infected. He now serves the new Leader, a creature that he was trying to kill, to serve the old Leader. But that Leader he doesn't care about now, he can't think anymore instead his mind is filled with hatred for the old Leader, and would do anything to kill him. That's all that matters now….

"What ….. happened". I awaken to find myself lying on the ground staring at an inky black sky filled with white gems of light, what has happened to the sun? I look around for the pikmin who spoke before realizing it was me, I'm too disoriented to think straight. As I get up I notice my stem feels heavier than usual, it doesn't feel like I have a leaf anymore.

"Are you alright?" I turn around to see a pikmin walking towards me, when I see the mushroom on his head it all comes back….

Being enveloped by spores that are entering into my body, choking me. My skin changing color and my leaf changing into a mushroom. Being ordered to attack the Leader. Charging into a group of blue and red pikmin. Slamming my new mushroom into a red pikmin with a leaf. Watching pikmin fighting each other around me. Hearing the Leader calling all the pikmin to him with his whistle. Trying to run to the Leader but being stopped by another presence inside my head. Heading back to the New Leader, the mushroom. Watching the old Leader retreat back to his ship with a now much smaller group of pikmin…

I can't think of what happen after or before that, I think really hard but everything's a giant blur. I'm now a mushroom pikmin and I feel happier than ever, but what was I before? I'm not quite sure and it starts to frustrate me. Then I realize something else. Where is the mushroom, our Leader? I look around to see the dead scorched carcass of the mushroom dead. What has happened? I can't remember a thing but without the Leader mushroom how can I survive? It's just not me though there are other mushroom pikmin scattered around the clearing. But pikmin are nothing without a Leader. The word Leader reminds me of the old Leader and burning hate fills up inside me. We were his slaves he ordered us to carry around his huge metal treasures, even if it meant attacking a large monster we had to do it. The sound of his whistles echoes in my mind like ripples and I wince in pain. He didn't deserve to be a Leader, he was only a bit taller than us pikmin, yet he ordered us around like some master. Us pikmin could've easily overthrown him and we should've.

I look over at the graying body of the mushroom in sadness. Beside him is another one of the Leader's metal treasures. This one looks like a flat giant triangle. I run over to the triangle and kick it in frustration, maybe if I damage it enough and it'll be useless to that horrible Leader.

"That won't do anything"

I turn around to see another mushroom pikmin walking towards me. He sits down on the metal triangle.

"We're going to die you know", he says flatly.

I cannot reply even though I know it's true. I've never seen a pikmin give up so easily. "Maybe", I finally answer.

"The gems are beautiful aren't they?" the pikmin says.

"What gems?" I ask. The other pikmin simply points up. Following his arm I see the wonders that light up the sky at night. Small speckles of silver ignite the inky blackness giving the whole sky a bluish hue. They are so numerous they go beyond the numbers of even us pikmin. "They're……….beautiful", I say.

"I wonder why the Leader never stayed on the ground to watch these wonders", says the other pikmin.

"Probably because he's a coward, he's afraid that the darkness will engulf him", I reply sourly.

The other pikmin just chuckles. Ignoring him I look down and surprisingly see more silver gems twinkling at me. I look in shock until I realize it's just a small puddle of water reflecting the silver gems from above.

Getting closer to the puddle I see my reflection. I'm not surprised by it because I remember seeing my reflection before somewhere, but it's too blurry to remember. I look at my new purple body and I'm satisfied, I twirl my mushroom in happiness it's much better than a leaf, the only thing that disturbs me is my eyes. There is no black dot, just pure whiteness, it sort of disturbs me but the thoughts quickly go away.

"Attention everyone!" says a purple pikmin. He's standing on top of the treasure as if using it as a stage.

Everybody looks at the pikmin but no one moves closer to him, since I'm right next to the pikmin I don't need to.

"Fellow mushroom pikmin", says the pikmin standing on top of the metal treasure. "Are we just going to sit here and die? If you pikmin don't plan to, you will realize that we need food. If we can go up to the landing site we can take the pellets from the pellet posies from there. Who's with me!"

Nobody said a word. The pikmin waited for several seconds before saying "Then I'll go up there myself" he had said it so quietly, that I only heard it.

The courage of this pikmin inspired me. As the other pikmin began to walk away I caught up to him and said "I'm going with you".

The other pikmin glanced back at me a smile creeping on the corner of his mouth. "Thanks", he said quietly, he then turned around and began to walk, expecting me to follow him and I did.

We exited the clearing and into the large mushroom valley. The pikmin seemed to know his way, but I couldn't remember so I just followed close behind. The valley was pitch black but the glowing blue mushrooms illuminated the whole area. The mushrooms reminded me of the silver gems up in the sky. This thought made me look up at the sky again, every time I looked up it seemed that all my troubles were swept away like dust picked up in the breeze.

The pikmin now headed up a ramp and I followed close behind. The ramp led away from the mushroom patch and into a lighter area, which puzzled me because the valley was illuminated but this place wasn't, but it was still lighter.

We now turned left following a path along a large body of water. The water was so still that it created a perfect mirror of the sky above. Up ahead I saw an orange glow illuminate the ground. The other pikmin also noticed this and he slowed down. Him and I both slowly turned the corner looking at what was causing the orange glow.

A large creature that I recognized from somewhere in my past was shooting large spouts of fire up into the air with its red tipped snout. It would take deep breaths before every blow, making the spout last longer. Something in my head told me not to go near this creature, the other pikmin also thought the same way.

"It'll try to burn us if we get too close, and it's right beside the ramp too", said the pikmin, thinking furiously.

Everything went pitch dark as the creature's last spout of fire ended. I could hear it taking in deep breaths so it could start a new one. Seconds later the area lit up again as the creature released more flames into the air.

"It can't see us in the dark", I said "We'll go when it's spout of flames end".

The other pikmin quickly nodded as the glow was already darkening, getting dimmer and dimmer. Then the flames stopped.

"Now!" I said, starting to run. It was impossible to see but the faintest outline of the ground, I could only make out the ramp ahead that would lead us up onto the landing site.

I hear the inhaling of the creature behind me ready for another spout. As I made it to the ramp, the world lit up in a hue of orange as more flames crackled up into the sky.

The plateau looked out at the scornful land around it. Though scornful it was a beautiful sight. One that anyone wouldn't forget. I looked out at what seemed to stretch on forever before disappearing in the horizon.

"There's what we want", said the other pikmin using his mushroom to point at two large flowers.

We both headed to a different one and instinctively I started hitting it with my mushroom. The stem cracked under the second blow and on the third it fell over. In the middle of the peddles was a circled shaped piece of crystallized nectar. It was colored yellow and translucent.

"Let's go", said the other pikmin already carrying his red pellet toward the ledge.

Quickly I picked up my pellet and headed for the ledge after him. We both dropped down into the darkness.

Landing with a soft thud, we continued quietly in the darkness not wanting to attract predators. I followed the other pikmin, only being able to see his outline and his white eyes. Again I felt disturbed looking at those white things, but the feeling quickly left.

It was eerily quiet, not a sound. I was about to say something to the other pikmin, when I heard something, a grunt. The other pikmin also heard it, immediately he stopped, his stem and mushroom stiffened, I felt mine do the same. No other sounds were heard.

After a moment I whispered "Let's go", the other pikmin didn't say anything he just starting quietly moving again. That was our major mistake.

A flash of teeth as the creature's jaws grabbed the other pikmin. It got a good grip on the pikmin and I watched in horror as the creature chomped the pikmin into a pulp forcing it down its throat. The pikmin didn't even have time to scream.

It had happened so fast that I couldn't even blink. Then I realized I was hiding behind a rock, I hadn't even tried to help, not even thought of it. Would that pikmin have fought for me, or tried?

The creature was red with white spots, except for its mouth with was tanned. Its two eyes were perched on stalks. It had two teeth, pointy, sharp, white fangs. A scarlet tongue poked out of its mouth licking up a clear liquid that drooled down its chin, the remains of my friend.

I could see it better I realized because the sky was becoming lighter, now colored a damp grey, the silver gems were now gone. I looked at one end of the horizon seeing that it was pale yellow become richer every second. The sun was rising.

My focus was directed back toward the immediate danger. The creature now had its nose to the ground sniffing at the pellet that the other pikmin was carrying. Then it looked up, nostrils flaring. It smelled something else maybe another pellet…………….the other pellet that I was carrying.

The next seconds were tense, the creature sniffed in all directions. It was about to turn away when it caught something, a disturbance in the sand.

My footprints.

They spidered back to where I was hiding and slowly the creature began to follow them.

"Drop the pellet", I thought. I dropped it, the pellet made a small thud on the ground. This made the creature pause, eyes staring at my hiding place. Then it moved swiftly right around the rock .

But I was already gone, running as swiftly as I could along the sandy path. The creature behind me let out a roar, and then it gave chase……

**I know there isn't supposed to be any dwarf bulborbs in the forest naval. But it's my story, so I'll do what I want.**


	3. Pursuit

**Well chapter 3 is finally here. Sorry for the very long wait, but I've been busy. **

**Enjoy!**

The thumping of the creature's footsteps encouraged me to run faster along the sandy beach. My huge mushroom on my head seemed to be holding me back, preventing me from running faster. The creature was now right behind me, I could sense it's tongue flapping along the side of its mouth. It let out a roar drowning out all other noise, it almost sounded like a roar of victory. Its hot putrid breath blew against me followed by something sticky and wet. It was that clear liquid, the juices that were once my friend. The feelings of nausea were quickly over come by a warning, almost a sixth sense as the creatures jaws lunged forward to grab me.

Instinctively I jumped out of the way, landing face first in the sand. The creature's jaws though, instead of scooping up me grabbed a mouthful of dirt. Angrily it spat it all out and quickly scanned the area. I tried to hide, but the creature's eyes were quick, too quick and it spotted me before I could hide behind a rock. With a roar the creature stomped after me and the pursuit continued.

Rounding a corner I saw a wide open plain ahead of me with a couple of pathways up ahead. One led to the other pikmin.

Far.

Too far.

But I can try.

I seemed to be running towards the bright horizon that grew in intensity each passing second. It cast my long shadow over the ground. Looking back I saw the creature quickly closing the gap.

Halfway there.

Its mouth grew to a point beyond belief stretching out, blocking out all that I could see behind me. Its eyes were wide open, eagerly anticipating the kill.

That's when the sun rose.

The first few rays fixed upon us in bright orange light. I squinted in pain. The creature behind me wasn't so lucky; the rays seemed to fully blind its wide eyes. It roared in frustration,stopping and shaking its head as if something were fixed in its eyes.

I was saved.

More roars made me look back. I saw two more of those creatures meeting with the other one. One resembled the first creature. The other was fatter, larger and had a black hide with red spots….

* * *

I returned to the valley. Quietly I walked past rows and rows of glowing mushrooms. I walked slowly into the place where the other mushroom pikmin were. They all emerged one by one; they're faces all eagerly anticipating food. One by one, though, they all changed to expressions of disappointment. One of the pikmin approached me. He looked at me, trying to register what had happened.

"Where's the other guy?" he asked.

I didn't say anything, I couldn't.

"What happened?" he asked again, there was now a touch of fear layered onto his question.

I ignored him and sat down on rock. Still in shock.

"What's all the stuff all over you", he asked.

I looked down; all over my body was those juices, sticking to my body now because of the heat.

I picked up a sharp piece of wood on the ground and gently pricked my arm with it. Wincing in pain I watched as a clear liquid started to flow out.

The other pikmin saw the similarities. His eyes widened in shock.

Slowly, I gathered myself together. I became strong again reinforced with an urge. An urge, the will to survive. If I stayed like this I would die.

"Is there another exit out of here?" I asked.

The other pikmin pointed to the other side of the clearing, it showed a dark pathway, almost invisible.

"Okay", I said.

I began to walk that way and shouted "We need to leave this valley right now!".

Another pikmin quickly argued "We're not prepared to leave here; there may not be food that way!"

"Listen", I told the other pikmin "If we don't leave this valley, we will die".

The other pikmin stared at me "What!" he said.

"Listen they've probably already picked up my scent, they'll be here soon, we don't have much time", I replied.

The pikmin that was talking to me earlier, came up and said "Do you see all that stuff all over him, that's the other guys guts", he said it loud enough for everyone to hear.

Gasps came from all around, cries of panic and fear.

"We're doomed without a leader", I said, gesturing over to the dead puffstool.

The two other pikmin nodded, mushrooms bobbing up and down.

"We're going to have to leave everyone", the one shouted to the rest "we'll take the pathway over there, in hopes that it will lead us to food and safety".

And with that, no more further arguing, we left. Walking slowly, we entered the dark pathway, not sure what to expect. When I turned around I thought I could see three sets of eyes, all watching me….

* * *

There were no mushrooms to light our way. The only source of light we had was the sun that was thankfully rising up fast. Rocks slopped steeply upward on either side, making it impossible to climb. That's when we saw the ship. 

The Leader's ship came down soaring over our heads, most likely landing in the spot were it usually did. It was soon followed by three onions. Red, blue, yellow.

_Blue_

A series of memories burned through my head. A blue pikmin fighting a large creature in the water…..a blue pikmin climbing down the stem of an onion…..a blue pikmin carrying a large metallic item.

Was that blue pikmin..._me_?

It was, I could tell. **Me** before what had happened.

The memories continued to flash in my head. Most of them were sorrowful, death and destruction as large creatures ripped us apart.

"The change was for the better", I thought to myself. But look what's going on now, the way that other pikmin died, his remains stained my body in reminder.

The Leader's ship descended to where it usually landed, I didn't see it land because it went out of view. I could picture him in my head though, calling out pikmin with his whistle.

Someone from up ahead suddenly yelled out "We found food!"

All the pikmin ran excitedly towards three small pellets on the ground. Everyone suddenly seemed in a brighter mood, as they pecked out chunks of crystallized nectar and shoved it in their mouths.

I took a chunk out of the blue pellet, and put in my mouth. The crystals started out very hard but my saliva softened it up and I swallowed gratefully. It felt warm and sweet down my throat.

"We should eat all we can", one pikmin said "If we take it with us, it'll slow us down".

"But how do we know if there'll be more up ahead", argued another.

"We can take little chunks with us, but that's all, if we try to take a whole pellet, the creatures will surely catch us", replied the first.

"He's right", I peeped up "We might be able to fight one, but if all three come then we'll be slaughtered".

Everyone shuddered at the word.

A roar behind us quickly ended the argument, and we all continued on making sure our arms were filled with chunks of nectar.

* * *

The sun was now very high in the sky, shortening our shadows, and making it noticeably hotter. The ground had become softer under our feet, as the sand was loose. 

We continued walking for a long time until the sun was directly above us. I used my mushroom to shade myself and keep me cool. If we hadn't found the pellets we would have been dead, the creatures would have caught up and killed us.

Up ahead there were some dead plants. Their leaves were brown and cracked, because of sun and lack of moisture. A pikmin in front of me tore a piece off the leave and tasted it. He quickly spat it out.

Realizing it wasn't edible, I ate the last of my pieces of nectar, chewing slowly and gratefully. Other pikmin still had more chunks, but I didn't bother to ask for one, I was too tired for another argument.

There were also some weird plants with no leaves, just a dark green lump with a lot of sharp needles sticking out. The plant seemed healthy and edible but the needles kept us from getting close, besides it looked to strong to be able to crack open.

I saw one needle that had fallen off. I picked it up it was light and had a very sharp end. I eyed the plant, as an idea formed in my head.

I stabbed the plant with the needle and watched joyfully as drops of liquid streamed out, moistening the ground. I stabbed the plant again and again, pikmin around me bent to the ground and started sipping little puddles that formed on the dry ground. I bent down to take a sip myself, the juice tasted bitter but it wasn't poisonous. It would have to do.

I decided to keep the needle; it would make a good weapon, and help if I had to fight one of those creatures. I smiled as I pictured myself stabbing the black and red one in the eye.

* * *

The day passed into the afternoon as we continued on. The path was wide at some parts and very narrow at others causing us to go single file. It weaved a lot so we could never see straight ahead. I had a feeling the path had once been a river, but had dried out because of the heat. 

It continued to get hotter. The air was dry and my footsteps were sluggish. Soon we might be reduced to crawling. As we rounded a corner, the pathway suddenly widened, stretching out both ways and we gasped at what we saw.

**Review's would be nice and constructive critiscism is good too.**


	4. Heat

**Yay fast update. It's time to find out what the not so exciting cliffhanger was. Enjoy.**

A vast desert stretched out before us. Dunes could be seen all the way to the horizon, rippling the ground. Gold sand sifted across, carried by gusts of wind. Occasionally a dust devil would form, lazily spiraling across, picking up lose bits of sand. Dead vegetation littered the area trying to grow on hard patches of earth, still nothing edible. The air seemed to blister with heat.

There were cries of despair among the pikmin. I knew what they were thinking, death was all around us. If we went back we were surely dead. If we tried to cross the desert, we would probably die. The cliffs on either side were too high to climb.

As my mind racked for ideas to escape the inevitability, a pikmin spoke up, "I say we cross the desert", his words were strong and encouraging.

"Why?" argued another pikmin weakly.

The first pikmin countered, "Okay, lets say we go back and die fighting those monsters, honestly I'll take my chances out there", pointing to the desert, "than meet that gruesome fate that happened to our friend".

I shook my head, memories burning through me, but I spoke up "There might be a way", I said "If we stay close to the cliffs, we'll be under their shadows and stay cool. We also might be able to find another pathway out".

Most of the pikmin liked the idea, nodding their heads in agreement. The first pikmin spoke up again "That would be our best chance of survival".

The second pikmin was still stubborn "But if we go back…." he started to say.

"There is no going back!" I snapped at him "If you go back you will die!"

The pikmin immediately quieted, nodding his head in agreement.

A looked at everyone "Does anyone else have a stupid idea, which will lead to inevitable death, because I'd love to hear it", I said sarcastically "Come on, enlighten me!

A pikmin rested his arm on my shoulder; it was the first mushroom pikmin that I had spoken to, the one that said that we would die. "Easy mate, just calm down", he said.

"Why! Why should I. Why should any of us be calm!? You're the one who said we were going to die!" I screamed at him.

"Because you showed me hope", he answered simply "And a stubborn 'min always dies". And with that he entered the desert.

I watched as the other pikmin slowly filed out behind him. I lowered my head in shame following them from behind.

* * *

We followed my plan, staying under the cliffs. The long shadows cast upon the ground cooled us and the cliffs were so tall it eclipsed the sun. The sky was already beginning to darken, turning the atmosphere into an explosion of colours. Orange, indigo, violet, and scarlet. The desert also began to swiftly cool. 

I absently traced swirling lines into the sand with my needle; I kept my thoughts to my self and never uttered a word to anyone. Every now and then I looked across the vast expanse of land. It made me feel tiny and exposed. I could see for miles and miles until the land disappeared over the horizon. The sand in the dark looked like a deep purple, cool and welcoming.

As the sky turned into a dark shade of blue one of the pikmin spoke up "We need to take a little rest".

Everyone else agreed, I was tired and hadn't slept in a long time. I lay my head down on the cool sand, closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep as the gems emerged….

* * *

When I awoke it was still night and the sky was littered with gems. It was cool, at least compared to day time. I looked around, most of the pikmin were asleep, and only one was awake, sitting quietly on the ridge of a dune. 

I realized we should be getting ready to move on, it was cool and we should try to cover as much ground before the sun rises.

I then looked back to see how far we had come and saw a major mistake we had made. The ground was full of our tracks, tiny dots that went as far as I could tell. The creatures would easily be able to track us, if they had been foolish enough to follow us. On the bright side it seemed that we had covered a lot of ground yesterday.

Realizing that we needed to move in order to stay ahead of the creatures, I shouted to the other pikmin awake "Help get the rest of these guys awake, we should get moving!"

The other pikmin nodded and slid down the dune and gently nuzzled a pikmin awake. The pikmin and I did this until everyone was awake and rubbing their eyes tiredly.

"Time to get a move on, before the sun rises", I said simply, and began to head along the cliff side.

Everyone quietly followed.

* * *

We trudged through the sand along the cliffs. Once again everyone was quiet and there was barely a murmur. To my dismay I saw that the sky was getting lighter already and most of the gems had disappeared. There was no vegetation that could be seen anywhere, and we were all hungry. 

The sky was increasing in brightness rapidly, until finally the sun made its appearance. It was like suddenly everything became colourful again. The sand was golden and the sky was its own spectrum. The sun itself was a giant red ball bearing down upon us like an evil eye. I stared at it from the top of a dune feeling the heat rise rapidly.

As we continued on, the heat rose to extreme temperatures. There were no shadows to protect us. Anything a few feet away seemed a fuzzy line. It felt as if the ground itself was baking. I watched as a huge dust devil arose in the distance, towering above everything else. It spun across the desert at extreme speeds thankfully heading away from us.

The tempreture seemed to affect some of the pikmins moods.

"When will we find food", one whined, his words were slurred together.

"Do you think anyone knows?"Another snapped "How stupid can you be".

The only good thing was the extreme winds; they covered up our tracks quickly making it impossible for the creature's to track us. _If_ they were still tracking us.

The air was dry and my mushroom seemed to droop from lack of moisture. It seemed to weigh more every second; I knew I was losing strength.

The place that had seemed so colourful at morning now seemed pale. The sky was bleached in a white hue, and the sand seemed that it had been leached of its golden colour.

In the distance a huge cloud dominated the atmosphere, it towered high into the sky, and its clouds were dark and foreboding. I looked at the base which was almost black and almost leapt back in surprise as a bolt of lightning struck the ground. The cloud was very far away though and apart from it there were no other clouds in the air.

As I looked straight ahead I noticed something that seemed to shine in the sunlight. It seemed metallic as the sun reflected off it, hurting my eyes, but it wasn't.

A pikmin who apparently had better eyesight than me saw what it really was. "Water", he shouted "An oasis, with green plants growing beside it!"

I let out a shout of joy with the other pikmin and almost gagged for my throat was so dry. We charged over the last sand dune, rushing for the oasis. The first pikmin was also right, there were plants around it.

The plants were tall and had short pink leaves on the top. They weren't pellet posies but they seemed edible and looked delicious compared to the few other plants we had seen.

As I approached a plant, I looked at the water. It seemed so still almost like a mirror, and it had a silvery sheen to it. I decided to look at my reflection, and I almost regretted it. I looked so pale; my rich purple colour had been reduced to a faint violet. My mushroom had lost its deep redness and was now mostly yellow with a light shade of pink near the top.

"I will look better when I eat", I thought to myself.

And so I did.

Pikmin around me were already breaking stems and sipping rich nectar that bubbled out. Others crunched on the pink leaves. Everyone just suddenly seemed in a better mood.

I helped myself to a pink leaf, munching joyfully. It tasted great, better than I would ever expect. I then tried some of the nectar, savoring every sweet sip. Everything else was swept away like the sand in the wind. The heat, the creatures, the sun all gone.

When we're done we sat around and chatted to each other.

"Look at the way we ravaged those plants", a pikmin said to me "It's like a beast came through here".

I laughed at his joke. I was bursting with energy and felt like I could do anything.

"I feel like I could cross this whole desert right now", another pikmin boasted.

Once again I chuckled "I'd like to see you try", I replied.

"Watch me".

For once since this thing had begun. Everyone seemed to be very happy, there was no arguing and reality escaped us.

Until it all came crashing back down.

* * *

A pikmin stood atop of a high sand dune glancing back towards the cliffs. A look of concern was in his eyes. He looked over at me and gestured for me to come over. 

I climbed up to the top of the sand dune. The look in his eyes made me nervous. "What's wrong", I said.

"Those creatures, the ones that are stalking us?" he said.

"Yeah, what about them", I said, fearing what the answer might be.

He pointed out into the desert "Are those them?" he asked, his voice had a touch of panic in it.

I shaded my eyes and looked to where he was pointing. Striding over a sand dune, were the three creatures. They had their noses pressed to the ground as if following a scent. The black one was leading the other two; fortunately they weren't looking our way. I noticed that they looked unhealthy. Their eye stalks dropped and their eyes half open with a faint, glazed look. Their hides looked wrinkled and they looked skinnier from lack of food. Their tongues lolled out of their panting mouths.

"Why would they track us this far, it's suicide", I said in frustration. "Even better question, how did they track us? Our footprints were erased in the wind".

The other pikmin looked at me slowly, and pointed to my body "They must've picked up the scent of the….."

I looked down over my torso at the dried up liquid that was splattered over me, the remains of another pikmin, it made sense. "They must have good noses", I said bitterly.

"We'll have to go farther into the desert", said the other pikmin.

I realized that wasn't an option "No, we'll fight them" I said.

"What are you crazy!" replied the other pikmin, panicking "We'll be killed, you even said it yourself!"

I glanced at the sharp needle in my hand "We need to make a stand", I replied. I looked down back into the oasis; there were twelve pikmin in total, including me and the other guy. Four for each creature.

"Everybody", I shouted, everyone down in the oasis glanced up at me "The creature's that are stalking us, have finally caught up and are blocking our way back to the cliffs".

Looks of fear rippled through everyone "Are you suggesting we try to fight them?" asked one of the pikmin. The others looked at him in disbelief

My answer was simple, and to the point "Yes I do".

The pikmin looked at everyone else "Even if the rest run away, I will fight with you", he replied nobly and made his way up the dune.

Everyone else glanced at each other. Figuring out what they should do. One by one they made their way up the dune, accepting the circumstances.

I looked at the pikmin who had first argued with me, he just nodded slowly.

The creature's had noticed us now and were heading towards us. They looked so small but were getting bigger by the second, I was already unsure of my plan.

I looked at the groups of pikmin "Okay you three and I are going to take the big guy in the middle. You four will take the creature on the left; the other four will take the last creature".

"Try to get behind them", I continued, "Their mouths are their only weapon and they can only use them if you're standing right in front of them. If it shakes you off get up as quickly as possible."

With a quick gesture the four pikmin on my left and the four pikmin on my right, began crawling to the sides of the dune. They would flank the creatures when they charged towards the other three pikmin and me. It was the best plan I could think of.

I looked at the needle in my hand, it was light and sturdy. I could throw it right now and probably hit one of the creature's but that would be a waste.

They were now over the last dune; they would be on us in less than a minute.

I glanced over on both sides, the pikmin were in position, their little mushrooms and heads poking over the side of the dune. I gave a gesture to hold for a bit longer.

The creatures were now at the base of the dune and beginning their ascent towards us. The black one lead, his face etched with exhaustion seemed determined. The pikmin on both sides could now attack from behind.

"Now!" I shouted, giving the signal. On both sides pikmin charged out, running up the slope, and attacked the two red and white creatures from behind. The two creatures's quickly turned around but the pikmin were all ready on top of them, grabbing on with their hooked hands, slamming their mushrooms into the red and white hides, again and again. The creatures winced with each blow, suddenly one managed to shake the pikmin off his back sending them flying every where. The creature's jaws quickly tore apart the pikmin closest to him.

I looked down realizing our mission, the black creature. It was already heading down the slope back towards the sound of death.

"Get 'em!", I shouted and ran towards the black creature, needle in hand. One of the pikmin beside me jumped from the top of the dune and tried to land on the creature's back.

A flash of teeth. Squeal of pain. Fluids and shreds flying every where.

The creature had turned at the last second, sending the pikmin straight into its jaws. It now was chewing on a ripped up bit of mushroom. The two other pikmin and I immediately faltered, slowing to avoid the same fate, I managed to keep my grip on a hard patch of earth but the other two slipped on the loose sand. They tumbled down the slope, past the creature, that ignored them. Instead its eyes were on me.

I immediately backed up the slope and the creature quickly charged up after me. I quickly glanced at how the other battles were fairing; on one, two pikmin were beating down a severely wounded creature, its eye stalk had burst, slamming their mushrooms into its hide as it had spasms of pain. The other battle had pikmin on the back of a creature. With a roar the creature suddenly reeled back, sending fountains of sand up in the air. Dust obscured my view.

I focused back at the black creature, which was coming straight at me. I climbed to the top of the dune, balancing on the narrow tip. The creature suddenly jumped up in front of me, jaws snapping. I immediately stabbed my needle down into its head, right between the eye stalks. It roared in pain; climbing up onto the ridge, it pushed me off, sending me tumbling down.

I hit the ground hard, sending sand everywhere. I looked up at the creature who was trying to walk towards me, but it seemed its legs weren't working right, they jittered in spasms instead. It stumbled and fell, rolling at me in a cloud of dust. I threw my needle but it missed and suddenly the creature, in a wave of black and red, landed right on top of me.

A loud, screaming, pain inside my head.

Then…nothing.

**Wow don't you hate cliffhangers? Anyways our hero's not dead, there will be a chapter five. Hope you liked it and reviews would be nice!**


	5. Doubt

**Nearly two months. Tsk, tsk I can do better than that. **

I woke up to a ripple of pain. My head ached, my back was sore; my mushroom felt like it was on fire. Groggily I opened one eye and immediately sunlight shone through. I squinted in pain and tried to get up but something was crushing the lower half of my body.

The huge body of the black and red creature was on top of me. I looked at its face, judging by the blank look in its eyes it was probably dead.

I killed it. On my own.

Well not exactly on my own as I saw the splintered half of the needle sticking out of its skin between the eye stalks. The needle had probably driven right through the creature's skull and hit its nerve centre.

I gradually shimmied my way out from under the creature and used all my strength to get up. I immediately fell to the side and landed on the ground in a heavy thud. I was exhausted.

Looking to the right though I saw the oasis and the remains of some of the shredded plants we had eaten earlier today. If it was still today. Judging by the sun it was afternoon.

I gradually made my way towards the chewed up plants. When I got there I quickly grabbed a red leaf and chewed on it. Immediately after swallowing the sweet leaf some of my energy seemed to renew. Satisfied I chewed more and drank some nectar and my energy rose up. I was able to stand up properly now and I could walk.

I looked back at the black and red creature and remembered about the battle that had taken pace just over the dune. I hobbled back towards the creature and tried to pull the splintered piece of needle that was jammed between his eye stalks. Blood frothed from the wound but the needle wouldn't budge. It was a waste of energy, I guess I would have to say goodbye to the weapon.

I then turned and walked up the dune hoping that we had won and my fellow mushroom pikmin were waiting for me on the other side. Reaching the top I looked down and saw….

Chaos.

Bodies of numerous pikmin were littered all over the place. None were directly intact. Huge splashes of purple liquid which I guessed used to be pikmin stained the sand, along with blood, lots of blood. Both of the red and white creatures were dead and lay down upon the sand. They looked as bad as the pikmin carcasses. We had won, but where were the survivors?

I skidded down the dune for a closer examination. The bodies of the creatures had numerous purple welts on them and dried up blood was splattered across their cracked faces.

Then I saw the footprints. I realized they were my fellow pikmins' footprints because they were just tiny dots spidered across the sand. Following them I realized they headed back up the dune and back to the oasis.

But they weren't at the oasis. They must've moved on across the desert, they couldn't have stayed here forever.

I needed to follow them immediately. I couldn't survive on my own, not for a long time anyways. Pikmin were meant to work as a group.

With increased vigor I began to head back up the slope. That's when I heard the moans. They came from behind me, somewhere in the bloody mess of the hellish carnage. They were a pikmin's cries for help.

I headed back towards the massacre and scouted around, trying to locate the source of the moans. Every thing seemed dead, but that certainly wasn't the case.

I found the pikmin behind the carcass of one of the creatures. He looked as dead as everyone else here, but he wasn't. The pikmin had long gashes digging deep across his torso. One of his arms had been ripped off, and the missing limb lay several meters away. One of his legs had been badly twisted. He was still alive though.

I kneeled down to his face "Mate, you okay?" I said.

His answer "Ahhhh………………….." His body slumped to the ground, limp.

Was he dead? I wasn't sure. The other pikmin had probably mistaken me for dead but I had been alive.

I lifted the pikmin up, putting his one arm around my shoulders. I hobbled back to the oasis, the other pikmin's limp form dragging beside me. I also noticed that the other pikmins' numerous tracks were scattered around the oasis. They had obviously eaten before they had left.

I laid the other pikmin's body beside a puddle of nectar and began splashing it on his face. After a minute when I began to fear that he had passed away he suddenly coughed. His eye slowly opened and he looked at me.

"I….should be dead", he gasped. The pikmin was obviously still in great pain.

"Don't talk, it'll waste energy", I said, pouring more nectar into his throat.

It took me ten minutes until the pikmin finally said he was full. I got up, brushed my self off and told him the plan. "The other pikmin have moved on, I don't know where but luckily their tracks remain. We need to follow them".

"N..nooo….you go on…", the other pikmin gasped. He began to cough up nectar mixed with a clear fluid. I knew all to well what that fluid was.

"No I got to take you with me", I persisted. I wasn't gong to leave him here.

"I'll…stay here...and eat some more", he stuttered "Then…I….I'll catch up…..with…y….you".

"You're in no condition to get there alone, you can't even walk properly", I replied, gesturing at his badly, twisted leg.

"…..fine", wheezed the other pikmin.

"Listen, we can also take some of the food with us", I said and grabbed a handful of leaves "We should be fine". Hardly the truth.

Before leaving I ate as much as I could without feeling too full. I then picked up the handful of leaves and soaked them with nectar. I was careful not to get any sand in the nectar as it would ruin the whole thing.

"Okay here, put your arm over my shoulder", I said to the other pikmin as I picked him up. Vaguely he curled his arm around me, and then slumped backwards. I groaned trying to keep him upright and was successful. I supported him with one arm the other arm carried the pink leaves. They were all scrunched up so I could carry more. It would be hard going.

Our progress was slow. The other pikmin stumbled a lot and I always had to shove a new leaf down his throat as he used up a lot of energy. We also avoided dunes going around them and finding the tracks of the other pikmin again. Luckily the other mushroom pikmin had seemed to avoid climbing up the huge dunes. They towered above us, a wall of golden sand.

One thing I wondered was why the other mushroom pikmin hadn't returned to the cliffs, were there would be shade. I could've returned there also but I had decided it was best to follow the tracks.

The other pikmin barely said anything at all. He just quietly limped along quietly. His breathing seemed rasped, as if he had swallowed sand. The desert continued to show no mercy. The sand was so hot it seemed to turn to glass, reflecting the sun and hurting my eyes. The sky had no clouds in sight, only the sun. Sometimes I thought I saw things up ahead; metal treasures that the evil Leader would get or sometimes plants. When I got to close though, they just melted into the air.

It was impossible to tell how far we had traveled. The cliffs behind us were all but gone, now fuzzy lines behind us like the horizon. At last when I thought we had traveled for a very long time, I stopped. As soon as I stopped my feet seemed to lose all strength, causing me to tumble over. A second later the wounded pikmin fell down beside me, the sand muffling his fall.

I checked to see if the leaves were good. They were so I shoved one in my mouth. I savored every bite. I then gave a couple to the wounded pikmin. He grabbed them with his one arm and sloppily chewed the down. I couldn't blame him, he was too weak.

That's when I heard the noise. A faint hissing, a distant roar. I wondered if my hearing was okay because the noise wasn't going away. There had been barely any noise, no wind, and no animals. Nothing. Until now.

The dust devil tore over the dune. Its column of sand cascaded down upon the other pikmin and me. Dust ripped into my open mouth, into my eyes. I buried my head into the dune trying to keep the dust away from the leaves. It kept finding ways though. It seemed alive twisting, turning and unleashing its hell upon me. It was the dominant, this was its territory and I was an invader.

As quickly as it had begun it was over. The dust devil moved away, towards the cliffs. Slowly I opened my eyes, blinking multiple times to get the sand out, and looked around. The other pikmin was still alive beside me, gently moaning. The leaves were worst off; sand had stuck to sticky nectar, completely covering the leaf. This made them inedible.

"Damn", I cursed and threw the leaves down upon the sand "Damn, damn, damn".

I kicked the sand, trying to vent my frustration. I cursed and cursed again. We were stuck in a damn desert, with no damn food, because of the damn dust devil.

More sand showered into the air. Gently floating with the light breeze the dust devil left behind.

Aimlessly

Like me

What's the point, in continuing? How can a pikmin find peace, find purpose?

* * *

_The green and yellow body of the creature gave one final croak before the life drained out of it. One blue pikmin, his leaf soaked gasps for breath. It was his third day and he was getting bored, combat after combat. The first day was good, a bit confusing, but now he was exhausted. A shortage of blues had caused him to be used three days in a row. Sure he had nights off but those passed in a speedy blur. _

_Desperate he says aloud "Will we ever stop doing this, collecting treasure and fighting all these creatures?"_

_Another blue pikmin, flower crowning its stem said "Why should you care? We must serve the Leader"_

"_Why?" asks the blue pikmin._

"_It's our purpose", says the flower pikmin._

"_Purpose?"_

"_The reason why we were created", says the flower "and that reason is to serve the Leader"_

"_There has to be something more", the first persists._

"_No, there isn't any other reason", the flower pikmin seems very indifferent about the whole conversation._

_The first frustrated says, "So what's the Leader's purpose?"_

_The flower pikmin simply shrugs. With a shrill of the Leader's whistle he proceeds to help carry the green and yellow creature's body back to the onion……_

The memory that had been plucked from my mind slowly drifted back into my conscious. I began to think about the whole basic concept of the conversation.

_Our purpose is to serve the Leader_

* * *

That can't be right. It **couldn't **be right; the Leader was wrong, trying to take us over like a bunch of slaves. A false god. A fake, someone that has taken advantage of us, tried to control us. All for his own good will.

There had to be something bigger than that. The other pikmin had only served the leader and thought that was its purpose, he had no other idea. There could be something bigger, something better than that.

The wounded pikmin groaning brought me back to my senses. I needed to find the trail again, had to. If I didn't we would starve and die, but if we found the group again we had a chance. If the group was still alive.

It took me a long time to find their tracks again, but it was worth it. The dust devil had blasted sand all around us in a wide diameter. The tracks had faintly reappeared 20 metres away.

Without further ado I helped the wounded pikmin up onto my shoulders and began to follow the tracks again. The day had passed into late afternoon and the sun was at a very steep angle. It had a tint of beautiful citrus on its edge.

I also wondered why my fellow pikmin were wondering aimlessly into the desert. It made no sense, were they following something? It didn't seem that way as there were no other tracks.

The tracks now seemed to be more prolonged. Were they running? It seemed that way. As if they were eager to get somewhere or racing each other.

Feeling that they were close I began to run too. My very long shadow ran beside me and the wounded pikmin seemed to give his best effort in helping me.

Coming over one last ridge I looked down into a rocky valley and saw a large white flower……

**C-c-c-c-cliffhanger!!**


	6. Different

**Sorry about the long updates, but school is a priority. I've made it up to you though as it's the longest chapter yet!**

**Disclaimer: (Everyone's doing em might as well go with the flow) Okay, do you REALLY think I own pikmin!!!**

* * *

The flower was very big and had no stem at all. It was all ivory except for the middle which was yellow. The flower it seemed had grown on a harder rockier patch of earth than the silky sand that surrounded it.

As I got closer I realized that there were other smaller flowers around it. They weren't that close to the flower but seemed to grow in little clusters. They were the same colour as the other, yellow and white, but had more petals. They even had little stems growing beneath them. There was something odd about the stems though. They were different colours. Well three at least blue, red and yellow.

_They were pikmin_

There was no other possible explanation; they were pikmin somehow grown without an onion. Was it something to do with the white flower?

What if these were my fellow pikmin, changed? Interested I gently placed down the wounded pikmin and started back towards the tracks. They seemed to head towards the white flower, getting less visible as the ground got harder. But they didn't seem to even get to the flower; they branched off into different directions and then disappeared.

This led me into one of the flowers, one with a yellow stem. Should I pluck it? It was a pikmin and I was a pikmin. I was a mushroom pikmin though. What if on instinct the other pikmin attacked me?

_I'll kill him_

That sounded too violent, I don't think he would try to attack me anyways. There was only one way to find out….

Gripping the yellow stem with both hands I started to pull. The pikmin was obviously stubborn and wouldn't give way. I planted my feet square into the ground and tried again. The stem started to thicken and I saw part of a head forming. The sand around the head started to give way as two ears popped out of the ground.

I was beginning to think I would rip the entire stem off when suddenly the pikmin shot out of the ground. As soon as the whole stem was pulled out I tripped backwards because of the momentum and fell on my back. Groaning, I looked up and saw the pikmin doing several flips in the air before landing perfectly a few feet from me.

As I struggled to get up, the yellow pikmin looked at me quizzically and said one word "Leader?" he then looked at me closer, realized something, let out a little gasp and said "Oh my gosh it's you!"

"You remember me?" I asked, well apparently he wasn't hostile.

"Yeah, we thought you were dead," the yellow pikmin said.

"I thought **you** were dead," I admitted.

"Well it was weird because we felt that we were being attracted to something, something was _pulling _us to this spot. We came across these flowers all different colours and practically forced ourselves to walk into them, they seem to be all gone now except for that white one," he noted.

"Funny, because I didn't feel like I was being attracted anywhere, I just followed your footprints," I said "But I brought him along".

The yellow pikmin looked at what I was gesturing to, the wounded pikmin, and gasped again "Another one! It looks like he's almost dead!"

"He is almost dead, and he will be dead unless we do something," I persisted.

"Right," agreed the yellow pikmin, he thought for a moment then said "We put him in the big white flower."

"Are you sure?" I said, glancing at the big flower, it somehow seemed opposing.

"Yeah he'll be turned into another pikmin, and his wounds will be healed," He assured me, and then he added "I had a huge gash in my mushroom and now it's gone".

"You don't have a mushroom anymore," I argued.

"I also had a lot of cuts and scrapes, it would've been near impossible to get out of that battle untouched".

I shuddered just thinking about that vicious fight, and then said; "Well, it's a white flower and there is no such thing as a white pikmin!"

"Is there?" he said, a hint of smile began to form across his face.

I sighed and then nodded. It was this pikmin's only hope, and only chance of getting through this alive. Hopefully it worked.

The wounded pikmin now seemed to be asleep; quietly the yellow pikmin and I picked him up. The yellow pikmin seemed very strong and was probably able to pick the whole pikmin up by himself.

We stopped at the edge of the flower, ready to toss the pikmin in.

The yellow pikmin looked at me and said "You might want to go in too."

"Why would I want to go in?" I questioned him.

"Well…uh you're…a mushroom…oh never mind," he said and looked away. He obviously felt intimidated by my appearance.

"I'm not like other pikmin," I thought to myself. "I'm…different".

"Okay, toss him on the count of three, aim for the yellow centre", the yellow pikmin said and started swinging the pikmin for momentum. I mimicked this movement. "Okay one…two…three!"

We released the pikmin and watched as he sailed through the air in an arc. He started to stir right when he landed in the dead centre of the flower. The yellow material seemed to act as quick sand and started to pull the pikmin into it. The pikmin let out a surprised squeak as he sank, alarm in his white eyes. I considered going in to get him when the petals of the flowers suddenly shot upward, snapping together and closing the inside from the outside. I took a step back, frightened as to what was happening. Then the flower seemed to squirm, as if the inside was filled with water. The movements became more rapid, something was happening in there. Suddenly something shot up out of the top and began to spiral down towards earth.

"Don't worry," the yellow pikmin advised me "It's perfectly normal."

The object was pure white save for the small leaf that spun around on top of it. The object was oval shaped and certainly did not seem like a pikmin. It had no eyes, no arms and no feet.

The little object hit the ground sending a puff of sand in the air. When the sand cleared there was no sign of the object. Probably it was completely buried.

"That's it?" I asked the yellow pikmin.

"Wait for it," was his only reply.

As if on que the small green leaf wriggled out of the ground, as if alive. Following it was a long stem, white coloured of course. Not the colour of any other pikmin though.

Behind the leaf, the white flower had opened up again. Suddenly though, it started to decay. Turning an ugly brown it sank into the sand leaving no trace of it. This is what probably had happened to the other flowers.

"That is your new pikmin," said the yellow pikmin grinning.

"Good," I replied and walked towards the stem ready to pluck this white pikmin out of the ground.

"Wait," The yellow pikmin suddenly stopped me.

"What, shouldn't we pluck him?" I asked, annoyed at the prospect that this pikmin seemed to know exactly what to do.

"We should wait until he grows a flower;" he said "He'll be stronger".

"Yeah whatever, and what should we do while we wait?" I asked.

"We'll there seems to be some others waiting patiently," the yellow pikmin replied gesturing towards the other stems.

"Yeah I forgot about those guys," I said with a laugh "Is there anything to eat?"

"I remember a little gully somewhere over there," said the yellow pikmin "It had plenty of plants."

"Good I'm starved. But I think I have the energy to pluck a few friends," I said grinning.

* * *

It wasn't a big reunion at all, there were four other pikmin. Two red, a blue and a yellow. They were all flowers, and all gave me the same surprised look when they first saw me (They also seemed intimidated). There were no wounds on any of them, so it seemed that the large flowers had healed them, just like the initial yellow pikmin had said.

I glanced over at the white stem and noticed the immediate change "It's a bud now," I said aloud.

The yellow pikmin looked at me and said: "Yeah it always happens, what's your point?"

"It's pink," I replied cooly.

This made all the pikmin glance over. Instead of turning into a white bud, it had turned into a pink bud, definitely not a normal pikmin.

"We should go get some nectar," the blue pikmin suggested "After we eat it should be a flower."

"And then we'll see what this mysterious pikmin looks like," added the yellow pikmin.

I followed the group as they went over a ridge to the left of us. Beyond the ridge was a small gulley, a stream ran through it with big ripe plants growing near. I noticed that there was little sand and a lot more rock. Hopefully it was the end of the desert and if we got lucky, the heat.

The stream had definitely caused the plants to grow. The nectar was as good as ever, and we lightened up. I ate fast though; I wanted to see this white pikmin…..

By the time we were down, the bud had most certainly turned into a flower, a pink flower that is. There was a yellow centre in the middle of the petals that seemed to be a fitting twin for the sun.

Anxiously I headed for the stem, eagerly ready to pluck it, the others followed. When I got there I did what I had done before, planted my feet, gripped the stem with both arms and pulled.

The stem started to stretch as if the pikmin was stubbornly refusing. I pulled harder, taking deep breaths; a simple task like this was turning out to be exhausting.

"You'll rip it right off," cried a red pikmin.

"No I won't," I snapped back "It'll come naturally".

The yellow pikmin came to try and help, but before he could do so the pikmin gave way and popped out of the ground.

My momentum carried the pikmin up into the air. He did several little flips in the air, flower swirling in graceful arcs before doing a perfect landing behind me.

The white pikmin was different. Not only because of his flower, which was obviously different. It was that he had no distinguishable facial features. Blue pikmin had gills, red pikmin had noses, and yellows had ears. All pikmin had these features they just weren't distinguishable (with the exception of gills). This pikmin had nothing, except for his eyes. They glowed a brilliant vermillion, it was a major contrast to his ivory skin and they were bigger than our eyes. The pikmin was also exceptionally shorter than all of us, and had to strain his neck to meet our eyes.

"Hello!" he said cheerfully.

We all responded with a "Hi or hey," somewhat less enthusiastic than the white pikmin.

The white pikmin than looked at me "Well I guess, I have to say thank you," he said.

I gave him a surprised look "Why?"

"You saved my life, I was almost dead," he replied in a matter of fact way.

"Oh…yeah, well no problem," I said. It was hard to recognize him as the pikmin I had carried across the desert, half dead.

The pikmin smiled "Oh no, we were both getting frustrated out there".

"Yeah I guess," I replied. The pikmin seemed much more passive, and friendly than the rest of us.

* * *

We ate again by the stream. It started to get dark as nightfall approached. Long shadows began to lengthen from the plants that we hadn't eaten, and from our own bodies.

The white pikmin and I sat together. I drank some nectar and the white pikmin hungrily crunched through leaves. The others sat in a circle a few metres from us, eating too.

"You seem hungry," I said, observing him tear through leaf after leaf.

"Eat as much as you can, never know when you're going to get more," he replied between bites.

"Wise words," I said. I glanced over at the other pikmin "I wonder why they don't sit with us."

"It's because we're different," the white pikmin answered "well not mentally, but physically, we're another colour".

"Not a fair way to judge someone," I snorted.

"Oh they're just happy they have their original colours," he said as he observed the group "besides it's not your right to be envious".

"I'm not envious," I scoffed.

The white pikmin said nothing, he just smiled.

The sun was very low in the sky. Turquoise, saffron, violet, amethyst and many other colours were splashed across the clear sky like waves. The sun itself seemed to dissolve and shimmer into liquid as its bottom touched the horizon. It took my breath away.

"Hey, look over there!" the blue pikmin exclaimed.

We all turned around. Behind us the stream snaked through a narrow gulley. Not so far off in the distance was a glowing light, much like a miniature sun.

"What is that!" another pikmin asked.

"I don't maybe we should find out!" said a red.

"Yeah!"

"Agreed!"

"Whoa wait a minute," I exclaimed, cutting everyone off. (The white pikmin hadn't said anything though) "We're just going to barge over there? I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh don't worry, we can take 'em," said the blue, whipping his flower to show his strength "Let's go!"

The blue pikmin eagerly jogged down the gulley, the others quickly behind him.

The white pikmin and I got up. Slowly we started to follow them, I was still unsure. "We shouldn't just march over there," I explained to the white pikmin "It could be an enemy."

The white pikmin nodded in agreement "Caution is a virtue."

Still we followed, as our strength was in numbers. The light winked ahead of us, drawing us closer. As I had noticed before, the ground was rocky here, no more big dunes.

I jogged beside the other pikmin, who were still full of energy; I didn't sense any concern in them. When we finally got there, rounding the last corner I could've sworn it was the biggest surprise yet.

It was the mushroom. No it wasn't the same mushroom, that _thing _was dead. But this was of the same species. It had the eyestalks, the tiny feet, all stuck together to a giant bloated body.

The glowing red light turned out to be a small fire. It had been constructed in front of the mushroom, gloriously illuminating it, making it even more intimidating. The fire had been apparently built by a half a dozen mushroom pikmin, clones of me, all now who were dancing around the mushroom.

A sudden realization occurred to me. This thing was evil, at first I thought it had been good but that had been single mindedly viewed. Now this was it, the cold hard truth, _all_ leaders were evil. In fact they couldn't even be called leaders, they had both used us, pikmin to there advantage. Were we meant to be slaves?

_Our purpose is to serve the leader_

How muddled this sentence was. It was false; everything in it was a lie.

My chain of thoughts was interrupted by a sudden silence. The mushroom had noticed us, the pikmin around it were looking straight at us too, with white, expressionless eyes.

The mushroom pikmin suddenly twitched, all stems straightening at once. The mushroom seemed to be sending the pikmin an order. The mushroom pikmin then started moving towards us, cautiously, but ready to attack.

"We should leave, we _need_ to leave, now," the white pikmin said behind me, sounding calm.

What did he just say? I didn't seem to be hearing him right, my mind was going fuzzy. I felt my stem tightening up. It was then I realized that I was walking _towards _the mushroom. An intense urge to run towards him sparked up inside me.

The white pikmin behind me suddenly noticed this. Figuring out what was going on he shouted "No! Fight it! Fight it!"

It sounded so blurry; I heard it but didn't make any sense of it. Another pull, the mushroom was urging me forward.

This was suddenly stopped by the white pikmin tackling me to the ground. He pressed his weight against me, trying to stop me from approaching.

"Help me!" the white pikmin shouted. I heard other pikmin running forward, running past us, than screams. They were probably fighting the mushroom pikmin.

Another pull, this time much stronger. It jabbed into me and I started seeing black spots, passing into unconsciousness. Still the white pikmin stood on me shouting "Fight it!"

The pain was unbearable, I couldn't fight it. It felt like I was dieing. Everything was hazy; I saw the fire crackling into the multi-coloured sky. The mushroom pikmin were fighting my friends, pounding each other with mushrooms or flowers. A red pikmin charged into a mushroom pikmin, sending them both sprawling into the fire. The red pikmin was okay, but the mushroom pikmin started to blister. The blisters burst sending steaming fluid spilling over his body. His mushroom exploded into many tiny charred bits, the remainder that didn't explode started to melt away.

In another violent battle a blue pikmin tripped a mushroom pikmin. The mushroom pikmin hit the ground hard, but immediately started to get up. Before he could do so the blue pikmin was on him. The blue pikmin gripped the mushroom pikmin stem with both hands and with great effort ripped it. The blue pikmin threw the severed top away as the mushroom pikmin screamed in agony.

His scream was cut off by my own scream as another jolt of pain hit me. I resisted as hard as I could. The white pikmin was helping, firmly holding my jittering body down. The black spots became worse, until everything was dark. I felt my mind slipping away. If it was good thing or a bad thing I had no idea…….

**Read and review, this story is on the favorites list of 8 authors and I know who you are...**

**The reason that I spell color, "colour" is that I'm Canadian, eh! (Canadians actually do not say eh! very much at all, if you think we say eh!, you're stereotyping and that's a big no,no...)**


	7. Cold

**Well since no one else feels like updating, (End of school stress?) I decided to! (Cheer). I have 10 bucks on who's gonna be my first reviewer (Looks at Thumbs), and what you're reading has nothing to do with the story!!**

**Disclaimer: What did I tell you in the last chapter? **

The first thing I felt was the change. It was cold, not hot. It felt as if I was in another world, I couldn't still be in the desert. Could I?

Slowly I started to feel my body again, from my stem and mushroom down to my feet. Apparently I was lying down on something like a rock. I was tired, felt weak and was very stiff. How long had I been unconscious for? It seemed like a year.

"I think he's awake," said a voice above me. I knew that voice, which was good as it meant it was a friend.

I heard footsteps around me, other pikmin probably. There were whispers all around, pikmin talking in hushed voices. Groggily I opened my eyes to find myself staring at the white pikmin.

"You're alive," he said smiling. "Glad to know that huh?"

I nodded weakly, other pikmin were staring down at me too. Suddenly I noticed the change that was behind my friend. The sky was not clear anymore, but covered in gray clouds. Not a single spec of blue could be seen. There were also trees.

Trees.

Mighty towers trees were to pikmin. They touched the sky with their branches, leaves blooming in bright greens……

Except these didn't have leaves. They had something else, almost tiny dark green spikes. Forming in clusters along these spiky branches were dark brown segmented cones. These were different trees, alien trees.

Exhausted I looked at the white pikmin. "How long have I been out?'

The white pikmin glanced around at our surroundings, chuckled and said, "About eight days."

That caused me to become more tired, "that long?" I said. "How?"

The white pikmin almost gave me an uncomfortable shrug, glancing around at the other pikmin. They all shook their heads, the white pikmin turned back to face me and said "We ran into some……difficulties."

"What, creatures?" I asked him.

The white pikmin shook his head "Just get some rest for now."

"I think I've had enough rest," I replied. I tried to sit up on the little rock I was on and I was successful. It left me gasping for breath though; my muscles had taken a long break.

The white pikmin motioned to another pikmin, a yellow. Quickly that pikmin bent down and picked up a chunk of crystallized nectar from a whole pile of it. The yellow pikmin handed it to me.

"Thanks," I said, and took a bite, it was really soft. I glanced over at the whole pile of nectar bits and noted: "You've been doing pretty well…"

The white pikmin shrugged and said: "We've had a fair amount of luck, finding all that. Though it's going to all disappear with the likes of you around."

"Get used to it, I'm hungry," I replied and we both chuckled. I then looked around. "This isn't the desert is it?"

"We've traveled really far," The white pikmin explained. "But even this change seems odd, it even snowed yesterday."

"Snowed?" I asked.

"Well it has all melted now," the white pikmin said, and then he pointed to another rock to my left. "See the white stuff on that rock, that's frost, an early form of snow."

I glanced at the frosted rock "Probably only forms when it's cold."

"Most likely," the white pikmin nodded.

I looked at the yellow pikmin who had given me the nectar to notice something odd. He had bud instead of a flower. All the pikmin I was with were suppose to have flowers. Glancing around at the pikmin in the clearing I did a quick count (The pikmin had gone back to mingling in little groups). There were ten in total when there was supposed to be only seven.

"Do I know him?" I asked the white pikmin.

The white pikmin looked at the yellow budded pikmin and shook his head "No, we met up with them on the fifth day I think."

"Them?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah there were four of them. The yellow guy with a bud, two blues, one with a flower and one with a leaf and that red with the leaf over there," The white pikmin pointed them all out for me.

"But shouldn't they be with the….leader?" I asked, spitting out the last word.

"The leader left," the white pikmin replied.

"What do you mean left?" I asked in confusion.

"I mean gone, went away and never returned," the white pikmin explained. "He left all the pikmin to their own doings, I don't know the details, you'll have to ask him."

"Later," I said. "Right now I'm just happy I'm alive."

"Me too," The white pikmin said, grinning at me.

I exchanged my own smile and then lifted my self off the rock. I felt dizzy trying to stand up but I managed to by keeping my two feet shoulder width apart. I did a full turn to get fully aware of my surroundings, this new alien world with the strange trees. Frost seemed to be everywhere lightly brushed against small rocks and the base of trees. It seemed calm and peaceful, a very welcome change from the desert. In fact it seemed to be in direct contrast to the desert.

"I guess you returned the favor," I said to the white pikmin.

"What favor?" The white pikmin asked me.

"I save your life, you save my life," I said smiling at him.

"Oh everybody played their part," the white pikmin said. "It wasn't just me; in fact I'm just pretty small and puny." To add to that final point he craned his head up further just to stare at me.

"Oh don't say that," I replied "Every pikmin has their own unique trait, and I'll help you find yours."

"That'll be hard;" thought the white pikmin out loud. "As it could be anything."

"The sky's the limit," I said encouragingly.

"Yes, it definitely is," the white pikmin replied eagerly.

I stretched for a few moments and then managed to walk. My energy was returning quickly. I went over to the pile of crystallized nectar and grabbed myself another chunk.

"So, why are we all the way out here," I asked in between bites.

"What do you mean?" The white pikmin looked at me curiously as he helped himself to his own chunk.

"Why keep traveling, haven't you found a spot where we could stay for a while. You know like settle?" I said.

"Well we had to keep going," the white pikmin and hesitated before adding: "We had to keep going because of you,"

"Why is it my fault?" I questioned. This was too confusing.

"Well it wasn't really your fault it was the mushrooms fault," the white pikmin answered. "You see, when you were knocked out we managed to defeat the mushroom pikmin. But the mushroom itself was still alive. About an hour after the fight you woke up, but you weren't yourself. All your movements were sluggish and your eyes were vacant. You tried to attack someone before we managed to knock you out again. We reached the conclusion that you were being controlled by the mushroom. You woke up about every five hours after that doing the same thing until we got here. It seems we've finally got out of the mushrooms control range."

This was too disturbing; I couldn't bear to imagine my self attacking my friends. "I'm sorry," I said to the white pikmin.

"Don't be," the white pikmin said. "It wasn't your fault. You should be thankful that you didn't end up like him." He pointed to my right where another mushroom pikmin was laying down on a rock. Probably unconscious.

"Who's he?" I asked.

"One of our own, until he got infected with spores during the fight. He kept doing the same thing as you, but hopefully now when he wakes he'll be okay."

We continued to chat for a long time about various things. I got to talk to other pikmin too. The white pikmin told me he saw things in a different hue, that everything was red. He could also see farther than ever before.

As we talked the sky began to darken, signaling the approach evening. That's when it started to snow.

The white pikmin saw it first, "Look," he shouted, pointing up.

Every pikmin in the clearing looked up into the dark sky. A blue then spoke up, saying "its snow!"

Indeed it was. Even though I had not seen it before there was no other explanation. Flakes the size of my head floated down above us. I watched one wisp sharply in front of me before landing on the ground. It stayed there like a foot print. Other pieces of snow drifted gently down, swaying back and forth. I felt one land on my mushroom, before dissolving into something wet. Water?

Evening was near. The lack of light bleached colours into shades of turquoise and deep ocean blue. The cool lapis lazuli hue made everything seem more relaxing and serene, it almost seemed peaceful. How much different, and better it was than the glassed sands of the desert. I almost wanted to say sorry to the land for calling it "alien".

Every pikmin was enjoying it. The snow kept coming in gentle waves, delicately dotting the landscape in white.

After watching the snow fall for what seemed like an hour. I approached the yellow pikmin with the bud. I was curious to know about the leader, more like eager actually. I wanted to hear that the leader was dead.

"Hello!" I called cheerfully.

This caused the yellow to turn towards me. He gave me a friendly look and replied, "Hi, nice to see you up and about."

"Me too," I said. "I was just wonderi….."

"You want to hear about the leader."

That was a surprise. I managed to give a little nod, "Yeah."

"He's gone; you don't have to worry anymore." He was vague just like I thought he would be.

"I know that, I'm just curious about the _details_," I said.

The yellow pikmin sighed "More curious than the others eh? Well we didn't kill, not us pikmin. In fact he's not even dead. He just flew away in his iron bird into the sky and disappeared. Leaving us to do what we though was bes…."

**Thump**

The noise came so suddenly. Everything shook, including the snow floating down to the ground. The yellow pikmin's bud and my mushroom stiffened in alert. We exchanged confused looks.

"What was that?" A red pikmin called out.

**Thump**

I glanced over at the white pikmin. He was scanning with his red eyes around the clearing. Suddenly they widened in alarm.

"Hide!" he shouted. "Hide, right now!" He ran for cover at the base of a tree trunk, pressing his body flat against the rough bark.

We all sprinted for the tree as well. The thumps continued, growing louder each time, it was getting nearer. I put my back against the bark; I was next to the white pikmin, he was looking around fearfully. The yellow budded pikmin was to my right; each breath he exhaled was a pale, misty cloud. The blue pikmin with the leaf was the slowest, arriving last, but thankfully not too late.

**Thump**

The snow on the ground quivered as the_ something_ drew very near. I felt like holding my breath in the silence after each thump fearing I might be heard, but I forced myself to breath. I glanced at the white pikmin, he had his eyes closed and stared up into the air trying to keep his breath steady. The yellow budded pikmin was leaning expectantly trying to get a view of the creature.

But the thumping had stopped, the _something_ had stopped somewhere behind us. The white pikmin opened his eyes and took a large exhale, very relieved that the_ something_ had stopped.

"It's still around," said the white pikmin "I can feel its presence."

"I can too," said the yellow pikmin. "Because it's right in front of us."

Our already stiff stems went stiffer, my mushroom pulsed with adrenaline. Slowly I turned my head away from the white pikmin, who was once again staring up into the sky, and looked directly in front of us.

At first I didn't see it. There was just the light swirl of snow continuously falling, the icy translucent clouds of mist ahead of me and the faint outline of other tree trunks. But then there was the faint outline of something _else_. NOT a tree. It was big though, a very large body. I breathed another shallow breath.

**THUMP**

The creature took another step forward. Pikmin whimpered in fear, I heard a scream of anguish somewhere to my left. The creature was now fully visible in all its glory. It towered over all of us, a large body supported by two lanky feet. Its mouth stretched across the entire width of its brown face. Its back was covered in bristling white fur making it look adapt to the environment.

It had its eyes on us. The two things stood on stalks gazing at us with total focus through the light snowfall. It was only at the other end of the clearing, each of its steps made so much distance though, making it impossible to outrun. We were trapped, I wanted to turn around and tear away at the bark and try to find a way out.

**THUMP**…..

**BOOM**

All of a sudden the ground beneath the creature simply exploded. A huge pulse of light shone blinding us all. I heard the creature roar in agony, the sound echoed in my ears making them ring. Another roar from the creature this time it sounded like a scream.

I felt dazed. I managed to focus my eyes on the creature, blinking rapidly I tried to get the echoes of the light out of my eyes. The creature's entire underside was covered in blood; its chin was torn up badly bits of muscle hung loosely from deep cuts. The creature itself screamed in pain again. Crimson, steaming blood poured out in torrents from its left leg. What had happened?

A large rock suddenly fell from above, somewhere from the labyrinth of branches that covered the sky. The dark rock fell quickly, whizzing past flakes of snow it hit the creature squarely in the back….

….and exploded. The creature's entire back was ruptured; fur that had covered its back was suddenly flying into the air looking like snow. But the creature's back was anything but bare, large pieces of flesh were shredded apart in the large wounds that they showed through. Blood bubbled out of fleshy potholes, flowing down the back and off it in small cataracts. The creatures legs failed to support it; they both broke, loud cracks echoing and fell in a tangled mess. The creature's body followed, crashing onto the ground, into its own pool of blood.

Something else had killed the creature, something that could kill us…..

**Please feel free to post your theories in your review, I mean you are reviewing right?**

**Oh and this is only half of chapter 7 but it was gonna get to long so I decided to post this first...You will see part two of chapter seven now chapter eight be posted soon and the former chapter eight now the new chapter nine because of the latter chapter eight which was chapter seven part two, be posted sometime after that...**


	8. Colder

**Another update for yall, just because I'm so nice. And no I'm not betting again, so no pressure on Thumbs.**

**Disclaimer: Sigh...see the last chapter**

Snow continued to float down gently. The light blue hue became turquoise signaling inevitable evening. It seemed placid again, after what had just happened.

The question was _why_ it had happened. What had killed the creature?

Or _who_.

I looked around at my fellow pikmin; they all seemed dazed and confused as me. The white pikmin was still blinking his eyes in disbelief. The yellow budded pikmin was scanning the clearing for any signs of danger, than he looked up. Of course.

That rock had come from the sky.

But how can a rock fall from the sky?

The sky isn't the only thing up there though. I gazed up into the metropolis of spiky green branches, searching for an explanation. Nothing obvious of course, no noises either, just silence. The eerie thing about snow was that it made no sound at all, everything was so……quiet.

"It was a bomb rock," said the yellow pikmin, his eyes were still gazing into the trees.

"A bomb rock?" I asked.

"Our special skill," the yellow pikmin answered. "Yellow's carry bomb rocks."

That was right. My memory was still vague of my time with the first leader. "So you're saying there are yellow's up there that saved us?" I asked.

"Maybe, but yellow's don't climb trees, and bomb rocks don't grow on trees," the yellow pikmin replied.

"So you're saying it's _not_ yellows," the white pikmin butted in.

"Pretty much."

I sighed "Well let us hope it does not become our problem."

The other two nodded but their stems were still straight and alert.

Slowly but cautiously we all began to move back into the clearing. Everybody was still alert and nervous, we had learned from our mistakes. It was getting dark very fast now and snow kept falling, it would soon be difficult to see. It was also getting pretty cold and I could see each of my exhales in a wet frosty cloud.

The white pikmin immediately went to the unconscious mushroom pikmin. He checked to see if the pikmin was okay and hadn't been hurt in everything that had happened. I admired the white pikmin for his care. I was also surprised that the mushroom pikmin hadn't waked from everything that had happened.

"He's alright?" I asked the white pikmin.

"He'll be fine," the white pikmin assured me. "I just wish he would wake up."

"What are those things over there!"

The shout had come from a red pikmin, the one with the leaf. He was pointing at the dead creature.

I squinted through the thickening snow looking at the carcass. I couldn't see anything besides the dead creature and dark splotches of blood.

"I don't see anything," a blue pikmin said, even closer than me.

"There's something moving there," replied the red pikmin still squinting. "I saw movement."

Instinctively we all moved cautiously forward. Besides gently falling flakes of snow there were no signs of movement. Hopefully the red pikmin was just seeing things. Hopefully.

There was nothing obvious on the front side of the creature. I looked into the thing's dull eyes and felt a little pity for it, it had died so fast. Those eyes made me think that this new movement might be the creature's killers.

As other pikmin scanned the front side I crept around the creature. I moved quickly and quietly past mounds of white soft fur. Maybe I could catch this _movemen_t off guard. Unfortunately the movement was already prepared.

I followed the creature's gentle curving torso all the way around when a flash of movement came from my left. That flash suddenly became a jolt of pain, I found myself taking a few steps back. Something had hit me in the torso.

A dose of warning came from my senses, bringing my instincts back into the world. I brought back my mushroom, ready to strike my opponent……..

…which was a cyan pikmin.

I stopped myself in sheer surprise to identify this new pikmin. He was the same size as me and was a dark cyan all over. This made him blend in perfectly with his surroundings in the cool of evening. He had no distinct facial features but each of his limbs ended in three short claws. The most interesting thing about him was his stem; it was very long and hung limply off of his head. I could see a navy blue bud attached to the bottom of the stem which was swinging between his legs. The stem also tapered off, starting out very big in diameter near the head but ending up quite thin nearer to the bud.

My torso felt sore and I glanced from the cyan's smirking face to its left hand, its three claws still maintaining a fist. Obviously not very friendly. I heard footsteps from behind me, my pikmin friends had come to see what was going on.

"Well, well, well," the cyan pikmin said crisply. A light accent seemed melt on each of the words that clicked out of his tongue. "A mushroom pikmin, a……white pikmin? And some primary colours of course. Quite unusual indeed."

"You hit me," I snapped at him, not liking his mocking attitude.

The cyan gave a sarcastic look of surprise, "Oh did I?"

The white pikmin came to my side, not liking the pikimn's attitude, and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Let me first tell you who _we _are," replied the cyan smirking. As if on cue two more cyan pikmin appeared from the mist and stood beside the first. "We are cyan pikmin. We rule this forest and keep it's creatures in check. We have sharp claws for gripping ice and climbing trees, long, whip like stems and have the ability to carry bomb rocks." He then came up to the white pikmin and hissed each syllable of the phrase into my friend's ear. "And we do not like the presence of pikmin _below _our standards."

He thought cyan pikmin where greater than any of our colours? I was about to talk when the yellow budded pikmin asked something.

"You can't carry a bomb rock, that's what the yellows do."

"Oh really?" said another cyan pikmin, speaking in the same accent as the first. "Then catch this." And he tossed a small chunk of rock at the yellow pikmin.

The yellow pikmin caught it with his hands. Suddenly he yelped in pain as if it had burned him and let it drop to the ground. The rock suddenly started to sizzle and burn up, before crumbling in a tiny explosion. The yellow bud pikmin looked at his burned hands in confusion; it had obviously been a bomb rock.

"Looks like you've been demoded," the first cyan pikmin said, a smirk crawling across his face again.

"So then if you are the best type of pikmin," I challenged. "Then what element can you survive?"

"Elements?" one of the cyan's asked.

"Yeah elements," I replied, glad that they were questioning us now. "Reds can survive fire and blues can survive from drowning in water."

"How 'bout yellow's?" the first cyan asked teasingly.

I said nothing; once again they seemed to know what to say.

"I'll tell you what element we can survive," the cyan said. With that he glanced up into the sky, as if expecting something to come down. "We can survive…the Freeze."

"Doesn't sound like an element to me," I scoffed.

"Oh but it is the most realistic and harshest element of all," the cyan replied. "You think it's cold now, well it's going to get a lot colder. Neither you nor your friends will survive the Freeze.

I spoke up, frustrated with their sarcasm, "Listen, if you don't want anything to do with us, we'll leave you alone."

"Oh it's a tad too late for that," replied the cyan. "We're already having that……._urge_."

"What do you mean by that?" a red pikmin asked in confusion.

The cyan pikmin simply shrugged and gave an innocent smile. Then he and his companions backed away, disappearing through the veil of sapphire mist.

* * *

We returned back into the clearing, not sure what the cyan pikmin meant or what his intentions were. I was mad that they had gotten the better of me.

"I should've tried harder," I said to the white pikmin. "If we'd been friendlier they might have listened."

"Possibly," the white pikmin replied. "But they seemed too jammed up in their own world. Beside they think we're lower than they are."

"Well they're gone now, but I have a feeling they're going to return," I said.

"Probably, but I'm more worried about this thing called the Freeze," the white pikmin said gazing up into the turquoise coloured sky.

I wondered what this Freeze would be but said nothing. It was pretty cold already and I did not want it to get colder.

I eyed the nectar pile, I was pretty hungry and it was the only food we had. Good thing there was a lot of it. I was about to go and get one when the white pikmin shouted.

"Everybody take cover!"

After what happened with the large creature, I didn't hesitate to throw myself down upon the snowy ground. The white pikmin lay down beside me, but his head was up and his red eyes were alert.

"What's going on," I hissed into the white pikmin's ear.

"They've surrounded us," the white pikmin whispered back.

A loud whizzing suddenly filled the clearing as a small and smooth dark blur jetted over us. It was moving so fast that it was impossible to identify what it was. More light whizzing sounds filled the air as dark objects continued to be thrown across the clearing.

A yellow pikmin who had his back to a tree was suddenly hit on the leg. A loud crack filled the air, and fluid erupted from the pikmin's thigh. He went down hard, clutching his leg in agony. The object that hit him ricocheted off and landed on the ground not far from me and the white.

It was a small rock, dark, rounded and smoothed in a non natural way. It had been thrown impossibly fast, as if it needed more momentum than an arm could supply.

After the first wave, the stones seemed to suddenly stop, but I could still feel the danger. I raised my head cautiously, and glanced around the clearing. Out of the blue mist and snow appeared two cyan pikmin, charging at me. More cyan pikmin appeared from everywhere, surrounding us.

I raised my head eager to fight when suddenly another flying stone struck the top of my mushroom. It had just grazed the top of it but at the speed it was flying it hurt a lot. I kept my head down but no more stones seemed to be thrown, so I raised my eyes cautiously…

….Only to be tackled by one of the cyans. He jumped right on top of me landing on my back and drove it into the ground; the soft snow not even attempting to cushion my body. Recovering from the tackle I tried to lift the cyan off me, only to receive a head butt from him. I felt a crack of pain and saw stars, I tried to lift the cyan again but he was too heavy.

Suddenly the cyan screamed in pain and was dragged off of me. I quickly got up, my body pulsing with adrenaline and ready for an attack. My friend, the yellow budded pikmin had tackled the cyan off me and now his bud was hitting the cyan's head repeatedly. The cyan's head snapped back in pain but one of his three clawed hands rose up and scratched the yellow on the face. The yellow budded pikmin screeched in pain.

All around me the clearing had turned into a war zone. Pikmin were battling each other in any viscous way possible. Stones flew through the air, trying to lick off solitary pikmin not fighting. I couldn't see the white pikmin but I could see the cyan charging at me...

I prepared myself, expecting him to tackle, I raised my arms, planted my feet, my mushroom raised and ready to hit. The cyan pikmin suddenly slowed five metres from me, and raised his head. His very long stem followed the head and coiled up. I looked in confusion wondering what he was going to do. The cyan flung his head forward and his stem whipped through the falling snow at me. It struck me hard on the shoulder, causing a long stinging pain. I grasped it with my other arm trying to numb the pain. The cyan was using his stem as a whip.

The cyan's head was ready to spring again already, his stem coiled in loops behind him. This time though he flung his head sideways, his stem coming from the side in a long arc towards my head. My instincts forced me to duck and the leaf tipped stem above me whipped harmlessly over my mushroom.

Without hesitating I charged towards the cyan pikmin. I slammed my mushroom into his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him a few steps backwards. He recovered and took a swipe at me with his clawed hand. I dodged and my mushroom met him in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Before I could do anything else, the cyan's stem lashed out and wrapped around my left leg. With a pull from his head, the stem went taut and pulled me off my feet.

I broke the fall with my hands and struggled to get out of the awkward position. The cyan tried to kick my arms but I kicked him in the side first. He groaned in pain and I quickly got up. I looked down at my struggling opponent who was still clutching his side in agony. When I saw his stem coiling up again, I kicked him in the same place. Then I brought my other foot up….and sent it crashing down upon his neck.

I felt a large crack and my foot seemed to sink down into something gushing out of the base of the cyan's neck. I pulled my foot out of whatever I ripped open. The cyan pikmin was still choking, fluids gushing out of his mouth and his neck. A bit of snow landed on the stuff and started to melt in its warm material.

Snow continued to fall everywhere, slowly and gently. It contrasted with the violent movements of pikmin grappling with each other. It was as violent as any other thing I had seen in my life. A cyan fighting with a red brought up his clawed hand and slashed it through the red's flower. Ribbons of petals flew everywhere; the red trying to catch them as if they still meant something to him. It was pretty much impossible to tell who was winning; it seemed as if both sides were losing.

My body suddenly erupted in pain as I was whipped in the back by a cyan pikmin. I felt the back of my body trying to find where it had whipped me. I could feel a large gash there but I quickly withdrew my hand as it caused more pain to touch it.

I stepped to the side and turned around. There was the cyan pikmin ready to whip me again, stem coiled at the ready. I prepared to dodge his stem when the cyan suddenly cursed aloud and started pulling on his stem.

Behind the cyan was the yellow budded pikmin who was grabbing the cyan's stem with both hands and keeping it taut. The cyan let out a tormenting screech, but other than that he could do nothing, trying to pull back would cause him too much pain.

I approached the cyan and the yellow pikmin gave me a nod. Without hesitation I slammed my mushroom into the cyan's face. The cyan fell to the ground; his face seemed to be indented. The yellow pikmin let go of his stem and let it fall to the ground limply besides the cyan's body. The cyan whimpered and buried his head into the shallow layer of snow.

"Don't hit him again," the yellow advised me. He had two nasty scratches on the left side of his face.

"Why not?" I asked.

"It seems we've won."

I gazed around the clearing and the yellow seemed right. Cyan's were backing off, whipping the ground in front of them to make sure we stayed back. We let them disappear slowly into the mist. I looked behind me to find the one cyan pikmin scrambling away; one by one they all left.

"We'll have to see how many are wounded," the yellow said. "Then we need to prepare if they decide to….."

A red pikmin that was standing 10 metres from us was suddenly hit in the face by another rock. His head snapped backwards and fluid spurted out, he was thrown back onto the ground by the force of the rock. Immediately a couple of pikmin near him rushed to his side, but they probably knew what I knew. The red pikmin was dead.

Two more rocks hissed through the air, barely missing two pikmin. Then there was silence. The sky was a rich dark blue now; it wouldn't be long before the gems came out.

It seemed only the red pikmin died. Others were just badly injured; I felt fortunate that I wasn't hurt at all. We needed to sleep though, we were tired, hungry and exhausted.

* * *

We all gathered in the middle of the clearing, ever wary of our surroundings. We needed to plan for the night.

"Okay," said a blue. "We can sleep but we should always have one pikmin on guard to make sure the cyan's don't attack us. We won this battle; we should be fortunate but prepared."

"Yes, we could use the fur that had fallen off of the creature to keep us warm," agreed a red.

"And we should have two on guard," I spoke up. "Just incase one…….dies."

Everyone agreed to that, but we were all still nervous about being attacked.

I volunteered for first watch along with my white friend. I watched enviously as my fellow pikmin laid themselves into beds of soft fur and settled down to sleep. Oh well get it over with now.

I watched the clearing as my white friend watched the area behind the creature. We stayed in constant chatter so that we'd know if something happened to either of us. We talked about things that had happened before the spores, old adventures and friends and such. It was getting pretty cold out and I was beginning to shiver. All the time I had my eyes scanning for any sign of movement, besides snowflakes, but nothing happened.

Finally when our watch was over, we woke up the next two pikmin. Then I settled myself down upon a bed of fur and floated away into a dreamless sleep.

**Wow look it here! No cliffhanger!**

**Anyways this might be my last update for a while, because after next week I'm gone for two weeks. So I'll try really hard to update again and hopefully I am succesful.**


	9. Freeze

**I've been busy all summer, but (finally) here it is!**

**Also note that there's nine pikmin left (not including the unconcious mushroom pikmin).**

**Disclaimer: I own pikmin. Sue me. **

**Kidding..hehe**

* * *

I awoke to a tidal wave of cold. I lazily opened one eye to look around, the light was dim and there wasn't much to see. Gazing up I looked into a sky blanketed with grey clouds, no yellow, warm sun in sight. 

Desperate to get some warmth I piled more of the creature's fur over my frail body. Each of my breaths condensed in front of me, forming a miniature icy cloud. Wanting to keep my head warm I buried it into the ground, only to get a face full of snow. Frustrated I used an arm to brush it away, causing some of the fur that arm had been grasping to fall off my body. Ignoring that I continued to brush away the snow only to reach ground that was colder than the snow or the chilly air.

Now knowing that is was going to be impossible to get anymore sleep, I slowly got up on my feet and rubbed my eyes. Snow was heavily sprinkled everywhere, though you could still see the ground poking up beneath as if it was fighting this new opponent that was on top of it. Looking around I saw a few other pikmin awake, all of them were at the nectar pile.

_That's what I need, some nectar. To warm me up._

My entire body felt heavy, and I stumbled around other pikmin with great difficulty. I tripped over a rock hidden by snow and almost fell. Now with a hurt foot and too tired to walk properly I limped the rest of the way. Getting there I ignored the few other pikmin and grabbed the nearest chunk of nectar. It was too big to put in my mouth so I tried to break it in half.

Frozen solid.

Frustrated, I shoved a corner of it into my mouth and tried to taste anything. Nothing at all, I took the block out of my mouth and saw a puddle of saliva where I had tried to suck on it. I put the corner in my mouth again and tried to bite down. My teeth chipped against the nectar with no success, just more saliva. Shaking my head in disbelief, threw it on the ground then started searching around for a sharp rock, an idea forming in my head. Almost immediately I found a decent rock for my purpose, fumbling with it I brought it back to the chunk of nectar. With a feeling of smugness I started to scrape the rock against the nectar and watched as small flakes of nectar chipped off the main block. I also noticed that my puddle of saliva was already frozen. Jeez that was fast, it reminded of how cold it was and I started to shiver.

Eager for some warmth and food, I placed the few flakes of nectar in my mouth. They were freezing, rock hard and had no taste and I considered spitting them out. Slowly but surely though they softened up and that sweet taste I was familiar with filled my mouth. I grinned and continued to chew. Immediately I stopped shivering and a growing warmth developed inside me. I felt like I was glowing. I happily grabbed my rock and started to scrape for more.

* * *

A few minutes later my white pikmin friend came and joined me. He was shivering a lot too. He eyed me and noticed my clever way of nectar extraction and immediately stooped down for a rock of his own. 

"About time you woke up," I said grinning.

"I wasn't sleeping," the white pikmin replied before popping a few flakes into his small mouth.

Half surprised by this I asked: "Where were you then?"

"Well I found something you see," the white pikmin said. "This _something_ that belonged to the cyans."

I frowned when I heard about the cyan pikmin, remembering about yesterday's encounter, "Something valuable?"

"Something quite clever," The white pikmin answered. "Here I'll show you." He got up and gestured to me, keeping his stone with him.

Reluctantly I got up and followed him out of the clearing. I shivered as I went. I wondered why we had gone from the scorching heat of the desert to the dull cold of this forest. Was there no comfortable place in the middle? My body wasn't accustomed to this temperature and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.

The white pikmin led me around the trunk of a tree where we came to a small dip in the ground. Snow had pooled into here and it almost looked like a white pond. The white pikmin began to scan the area, vermillion eyes piercing through the fog.

"This whole place looks the same, impossible to find things," the white muttered before he suddenly pointed to the ground where a small object lay and exclaimed: "Ah there it is!"

He led me over to the small object and picked it up gingerly. I could hardly believe he called this thing "clever". I was basically a piece of brown cloth like material, in a diamond shape. Except the vertices of the diamond were curved and smooth and it was longer than it was wider. The cloth sagged in his hands and seemed limp and powerless.

The white pikmin gently placed the stone in the centre of the diamond cloth. Then he got the two long ends of the cloth and grasped them in his left hand. The stone swung gently at his torso side, secure in the cloth.

"Wow a pouch," I joked, smiling at him.

The white pikmin smiled back but shook his head "Not quite you see remember those stones the cyan pikmin threw?"

I nodded before grimacing; I could remember the red pikmin's head smashing open.

"Good, now remember the velocity they were thrown at? Now it's obvious that there is no way any pikmin can throw a stone that fast." As an example he picked up another stone from the ground and threw it as hard as he could. I watched the stone fly through the air, it didn't seem that it was able to smash a head open.

"You see this thing here," the white pikmin said pointing at the cloth in his hands. "This is how the cyans' are able to throw their stones so fast. Watch closely."

It happened so fast that I could hardly see it. The white pikmin seemed to look like he was throwing the cloth itself. But then the cloth was at his side and the stone was a dark blur bolting through the air. In less then a second the stone had hit a tree trunk with a sharp crack, the trunk was quite a distance away.

I stared in disbelief before saying, "That was a good scratching stone."

The white pikmin grinned, "There are better stones out there."

I looked at the deadly piece of cloth in his hands, "That's quite a handy tool we've got there," I remarked.

"I call it a flinger; the cyans' were pretty smart to invent such a thing." The white pikmin admitted.

"You were pretty smart to figure out how it worked," I replied.

"Oh it's easy," he said. "All you do is grab the two ends like this so the centre piece with the rock is down below you. Then you swing it very hard over your head and before it's directly vertical above your head, let go of the top end of the flinger. It will unravel and the momentum will "fling" the stone at a high speed. Here you try." The white pikmin said handing the flinger to me.

I defensively put down my scratching rock and selected another one from the ground. I placed it at the centre of the flinger and grabbed the two ends. Lining myself up I chose the same trunk the white pikmin had hit. Then I swung the flinger over my head and let go of the top end…….

……….the stone landed with a dull thud in the snow very close to me.

I frowned in annoyance. The white pikmin was sincere though. "You're letting go of the top end too late," he explained. "Don't worry it took me a couple tries to get it myself…….

….CRACK!!

My second stone had hit the tree with such a high speed the frozen bark had splintered.

"Whoa," said the white pikmin.

* * *

We returned to the clearing a few minutes later. The flinger was fun to try but tired us out easily. I was now very accurate with it and knew it would make a good useful weapon. 

It was beginning to get cold though, very cold. And prior to returning to the clearing, we immediately headed to the nectar pile. Most of the other pikmin were all crowded around there. A lot of them were using my method of extracting nectar from the frozen blocks. The reds had also found a good use for their sharp noses, chiseling the nectar into smaller chunks to pop in their mouths.

Me and the white pikmin picked up our own block of nectar and sat away from the rest of the pikmin. I scratched away at my end of the block and put the flakes in my mouth. It was a repetitive process and after a while I felt as if I was only dulling my scratching stone. I wanted more then little frozen chips; I wanted to tear of a nice soft chunk and stick it in my mouth, feeling a mellow, honey colloid slip down…….

…I shook my head and threw my stone away in frustration. I glanced down at the block; a good quarter of my side was gone, scratched into small flakes. But I was still hungry.

And cold.

And tired.

Annoyed.

Frustrated.

Hungry.

Cold.

The white pikmin glanced up at me, "Everything going all right?" He asked, dropping the flakes that were in his hands.

"Nothing is going all right," I said, shivering all the while.

"Well we should be grateful," he said. "It could be worse, a lot worse." Even he sounded doubtful, as he started to shiver again.

"You don't sound grateful," I shot back.

He glanced at me blankly with the red eyes. He hesitated for a moment than said, "Listen I know it's hard. I'm as cold as you are, and as tired. I want to get through this too. Just as much as you do."

I felt sorry for being so negative and I knew I should be fortunate. I've survived a lot of things. Even if I am miserable, I can't bring it on my friends. Not when they're just trying to help.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I am letting the elements get the better of me, I shouldn't be miserable."

The white pikmin gave me a small smile and nodded.

I blurted out again. "In fact we've been awfully lucky. We survived the giant creature and the cyan pikmin attack. We also have a lot of nectar to last us…."

"I wouldn't be sure about that," A grave voice said.

The white pikmin and I turned around to see the yellow budded pikmin behind us. He wasn't carrying any nectar with him and his bud seemed to droop behind his pale, sharp face.

"What's wrong," the white pikmin asked.

"We've used up a third of our nectar supply," replied the yellow budded pikmin. "In _one _morning, it's not even afternoon yet."

"And you're only telling us?" I said. "Shouldn't you announce it or something?"

"I knew I could tell you two," he answered. "You don't seem as cocky as some of the pikmin."

I nodded, remembering how overconfidence had led to the mushroom encounter. "The other pikmin should realize it soon enough," I said. "They've all stopped eating now."

"I don't know, I think we might have to start conserving more," said the white pikmin.

"We could take up leadership roles," suggested the yellow budded pikmin.

"No one's going to listen to us," I said. "We don't have any power. We've pretty much remained leaderless throughout this whole time."

The yellow budded pikmin paused, absorbing the words I had said. "Makes me wonder if we were ever meant to be out here," he spoke out.

I looked at him, confused at what he had said. "What do you mean?"

"Well maybe it would have been better if we had stayed……stayed with the Leader you know…."

"No definitely, absolutely not," I immediately cut in.

"I'm just saying….."

"No, why would you even think about doing that!?"

"Come on just let me say something……"

"The Leader abandoned us, abandoned _you_. Why would you want to stay with someone who _controls _you? Makes you do whatever _it_ wants. And what's the benefit of it?"

"Well……"

"You die! You die a horrible death to some damn creature, while the Leader collects his giant metal treasures. The "Leader" doesn't care a single damn about you! That's why he left you to die in this damned forsaken hellhole!" I yelled the last words and gestured to the bitter, cold air and fog that surrounded us.

The yellow pikmin looked at me calmly before saying: "Look I know you're a mushroom pikmin and all but that doesn't mean…."

"Even if I am a mushroom pikmin I've experienced enough! I know for a fact that I would have died if I had stayed with those Leaders! You're only saying what that cause you've actually managed to survive what the Leader's put you through!"

"You're only saying what you're saying because those spores have infected your brain!" The yellow budded pikmin shot back.

A ghastly silence snaked through the air between us. We continued to glare at each other and said nothing. Finally the white pikmin broke the tension.

"I'm ah going to check on that other mushroom pikmin," he said, and then he looked at me. "I think I'll need your help."

I followed the white pikmin away from the yellow budded pikmin. I didn't bother to look back.

* * *

After grabbing a couple pieces of nectar. The white pikmin and I went to the edge of the clearing where the hair of the creature remained in separate piles. Each had been used as a bed for a pikmin. On one of these piles laid the unconscious mushroom pikmin. 

I was glad the white pikmin hadn't brought up the Leader argument. I didn't want to talk about it anymore. Any mention of the Leader made me angry.

I glanced at the nectar blocks in each of our hands. "Going to feed him?" I asked.

The white pikmin snorted, "I doubt anyone else has bothered too."

He was probably right; everyone else seemed too occupied with themselves. The white pikmin had been very thoughtful to take care of this mushroom pikmin.

The white pikmin got beside the mushroom pikmin and went down on his knees. "Okay, you scratch some nectar flakes off with a stone. Then place it in his mouth while I keep it open."

"Okay," I replied, then, finding a good stone on the ground, I started scratching.

It was after a while when the white pikmin paused, seeming to notice something. He immediately closed the mushroom pikmin's mouth and started looking over his body.

"What's going on?" I questioned.

"The mushroom pikmin…he, um, seems to be stirring. I think he may be waking up." The white pikmin answered.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah look his arm's twitching!" The white pikmin pointed to the mushroom pikmin's left arm, which seemed to shake uncontrollably.

"Is this natural?" I asked. The shaking seemed to disturb me.

"Well this is what happened when the mushroom……."

The white pikmin stopped as the mushroom pikmin's arm went into spasms. It rose up and slammed into the ground again and again, disturbing the snow beneath it. The white pikmin reached over and tried to restrain it. But that's when the mushroom pikmin's eyes shot open.

The effect was so surprising I sprang back in shock, my mushroom stiffening in alarm. The white pikmin had abandoned the arm and stood up beside me. He wasn't really shocked, but a look of deep concern was sketched across his face. Then the mushroom pikmin started to talk in a deep hollow voice.

"_Bow before me. Worship me, the master of all. I am your ruler and if you…"_

I gave the white pikmin a look of shock. "The…mushroom!?"

The white pikmin nodded gravely. "It's using this pikmin as a mouthpiece."

"…_kneel down and bless me. I will grant you eternal happiness, and you will join me on our quest to vanquish the leaders that poison our land. This land was meant to be ruled by pikmin, and all pikmin will rule if they accept me…"_

The mushroom pikmin was cut off. The white pikmin had clubbed him across the face with the scratching stone that we had used.

"Was that really necessary?" I asked. I was still glad he had done it though.

"He might get up and try to attack us," the white pikmin replied.

Even though the white pikmin had hit the mushroom pikmin, it still had one more thing to say. Those final words were the ones that disturbed me the most.

"_I will come for you, child."_

* * *

"I'm not going to feed him again, I'm sorry" 

"I understand."

"Oh gosh, I can't believe it; I just can't go near him anymore. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry it's fine."

We were sitting in the clearing, pondering on those words the mushroom pikmin said. We had brought some of the creature's fur with us so we could stay warm.

The cold wouldn't go away though, it seemed deep inside me. Running like sharp teeth through my insides. I was shivering violently, and other pikmin had gone to the pile of fur to copy our idea.

The white pikmin wasn't doing any better than I was. His usual scarlet eyes seemed to be a dull shade of pink. His white skin was now beginning to tint grey. The pink flower had flopped down to the side of his head. We both were losing energy, and it had only just reached midday.

We were forcing our selves to stay away from the depleted nectar pile. Other pikmin were noticing the lack of food and were doing the same thing. We all had the urge though, we all wanted to eat. We all wanted some nectar now.

"Like you said, things could always get worse." I exclaimed in a humorous tone to the white pikmin.

The white pikmin tried to laugh but it came out as hoarse cough.

"Oh well, just trying to lighten up the situation," I commented.

The white pikmin merely shrugged. Then he gazed around with his large amber eyes and exclaimed, "It's going to snow again."

It did indeed snow again, but not the gentle falling snow that occurred the day before. Instead huge gusts of wind blew wave after wave of icy shards at us. They swirled rapidly in huge cyclones; the air was laced with small white daggers. I could barely see the white pikmin beside me, let alone any other pikmin. I opened my mouth to say something, but the cold air plowed in through it, stabbing the back of my throat.

I closed my eyes because I could barely see anything anymore. My mushroom was numb; I could not feel it. The edges of my hands and feet were beginning to numb also. I kept swallowing my saliva as I was afraid it would freeze. I was shivering so violently that I couldn't stand up.

Then I heard a voice again, tiny and weak against the wind. At first I didn't commute to what is was saying, and then I began to truly listen. "……need to….. co…. combine our fur in one….. big..pi pile….stay close together…..retain h..heat….."

I opened my eyes and saw a blurry image of a red pikmin in front of me. I blinked a coupled of times and saw the red pikmin more clearly.

"Come….o.. on," the red pikmin. "Get…up…or …die."

He helped me up and then moved on. The white pikmin had gotten up too. The red pikmin gave us instructions. "Put…your wait no…put your fur..in the centre..add to pile."

I gave a shallow nod and scooped up some fur. A lot of it blew out of my arms, floating away and whipping through the air. To prevent this I scrunched the fur up against my body. It felt as cold as the air around me.

It took the white pikmin and me a minute to find the others. We could hardly see through the thick snow. We finally did spot them; their dim pale forms pathetically contrasting with the wall of white around us.

The other pikmin were throwing fur into a large pile. While having a large diameter, the fur only went up to my waist. I wasn't thinking straight and I was shivering a lot but I managed to instinctively put my fur into the pile too, without it blowing away.

The red pikmin seemed to be the least affected by the cold. They were instructing everyone else on what to do. Since they were resistant to fire they managed to maintain a high body temperature. Still they were shivering too.

A blue pikmin was doing even worse then I was. He shivered in great violent spasms. Between those he would pause and seem perfectly alright, but then another series of abrupt shivering would hit him. Then it seemed the shivering stopped all together. I eyed him a concerned look and was about to ask if he was okay. Before I could to that the blue pikmin raised his hand up to his stem (which was a blank white colour, no hint of blue at all) and seemed to prod it. With a small snap, his leaf tip stemmed fell off his head and landed in the soft snow at his feet. The blue pikmin, stemless, slowly looked down at it before his whole body crumpled and fell to the ground.

I looked at the blue pikmin in shock. He seemed dead and he looked very strange without a stem. That's when a red pikmin instructed "Okay everyone lay down in the pile, keep close to each other, it will keep body heat!"

I didn't seem to care; I was too busy staring at the dead blue pikmin. I let the image burn into my eyes. A red pikmin came up beside me, looked down and said, "I'm afraid he is dead."

I would've said something but I was too tired so I only vaguely nodded. Then, without looking behind me, I fell back into the pile of fur.

I was lying sideways. Squashed between two other pikmin with only a sliver of fur between us. I was warm though, I could feel a spark of heat from a red beside me. The cold could barely reach us anymore; it would not claim another victim, I was sure of that. I couldn't sleep though, there were troubling images flashing through my head. I knew I wasn't dreaming as my senses were fully intact. But the images wouldn't go away.

_Stemless pikmin crumpling to the ground_

_Rocks flying through the air, caused by the cyans' flingers_

_The leader throwing pikmin after pikmin into the maw of a great creature_

_A cyan stomping down on my neck_

_The desert and cold morphing together, creating a place of unbearable torment_

_The mushroom, surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of mushroom pikmin who bowed down and began chanting_

_Me, in front of the mushroom. Who looked down upon me before shaking his massive body causing spore after spore to envelope me _

_Then voice of the mushroom whispering into my ear, "You are powerless to resist me"_

**

* * *

**

**Next chapter "Target" (Name subject to change) should be up during September. I promise.**

**The "flinger" was really a sling. A simplistic ranged weapon used in ancient times, also used on trebuchets.**

**Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!**


	10. Target

**Darn, I just missed the end of August. Oh well, Summer vacation's still going strong for me, but it dies out on Tuesday...**

**Note: The pikmin that dies in the last chapter, died because of extreme hypothermia. The body stops shivering because it has given up on trying to keep itself warm. Just though I'd say that. **

**Thanks to all my reviewers, this fast update is for you!**

* * *

Target

_No pikmin can escape death, it is inevitable. You will all die, sooner or later. All pikmin will die. Join me and you will not suffer……join me…_

More voices, clouding my mind, obscuring everything else. I shook my head, hoping they would go away. But they wouldn't leave; they probed their way in, speaking softly yet fiercely.

_You won't have to worry about a thing…_

I tried to focus on my surroundings. I hoped it would push the voices out, yet I was completely disoriented. I couldn't keep my head straight.

_Go willingly…_

I found myself lying down. I was warm and snug; I didn't open my eyes but tried to remember anything, just to get rid of the voice.

_Escape everything else…_

**Where was I? **

**I'm lying on the ground, in the forest. **

**Why am I lying down?**

**Sleeping? No….I am doing this to prevent myself from freezing to death.**

_Death can come in other ways…_

Concentrate harder…

**What am I?**

**I am a mushroom pikmin. **

_You are mine…_

Frustrated, I sat up. I found myself breathing heavily, I must have fallen asleep but I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure about anything, I felt disoriented and confused. I needed to focus on something, get my senses in order. I gazed at all my surroundings, to find something that would keep me focused.

I was in the clearing of the forest. It wasn't as cold any more, and the snow was now gently falling. The storm and the freeze had passed. Everything was covered in a thick layer of snow, sparkling white, glinting as it reflected the sun. Yes the sun was out! I looked up and I saw it high up in the sky. Judging by its position it was late in the day, though the sky was still a dark rich blue. The huge tree branches and their needles all gleamed white. It looked like a completely different world. It had transformed into something breathtaking. I didn't even notice until later that the voice was gone.

All the other pikmin were still lying down in the bed of fur, all of them probably asleep. I didn't want to bother them so I traversed to the far end of the clearing. The snow felt cool on my feet, not cold. I was feeling alright, except that I realized I was hungry.

I looked at the nectar pile. I wondered if the blocks were unfrozen, which meant I wouldn't need a scratching stone. Eagerly I jogged over to the nectar pile and grabbed a small piece. It felt warm in my hands, which comforted me. Eagerly I shoved a corner of the piece into my mouth.

A sweet taste immediately filled my mouth, radiating my tongue with a mellow flavour. Happily I bit down on the end; it detached from the main piece and floated into my mouth. I felt it dissolve and delicately slip down my throat. All my worries disappeared, and with every bite I became more indifferent to the outside…..

"You shouldn't be eating that."

I paused and spun around to see the yellow budded pikmin standing there. I look of anger flickered onto my face, I remembered the argument earlier today. The yellow budded pikmin seemed to remember it too as he mirrored my angry face.

"Trying to get up early and sneak off with some eating?" The yellow pikmin shook his head. "We won't have enough nectar to last two more days if this keeps up you know!"

"I'm not stupid!" I shot back. "I'm not going to eat the whole freaking pile!"

"You can't just go around eating privately," snapped the yellow budded pikmin. "We need to eat as a group! We need to ration our supplies!"

"Well then I'm eating my ration!" I shouted, "And here's yours!" I threw a piece of nectar at the yellow budded pikmin. It glanced off his shoulder and landed at the ground in front of him. The yellow budded pikmin picked it up carefully, as if it were broken, and lobbed it back onto the pile.

"I know you still have that leader conversation still in your head," the yellow pikmin said. "But let us put that behind us."

"This isn't about the leader, I didn't even mention him," I broke out, even angrier that he would mention that.

"Oh come on, I know it's all about that. But try to get over it all," the yellow pikmin sounded like he was starting to plead. "It's in the past. Let us worry about now."

"The past is one thing I'm trying to run from. But I know it is catching up," I said.

"Don't think you're the only one who's had it harsh," the yellow budded pikmin replied.

"Well don't think I've had it easy," I snapped.

"I never thought you've had it easy, you've probably have had it worse than most, but that's no reason to be selfish or arrogant," the yellow pikmin said.

"It's also no reason to think we should go back to the leader."

"Listen damn it, I'm just trying to keep us alive and help everyone out! Not just myself! While you're to stubborn to even listen to me!" The yellow budded pikmin was now screaming.

"Oh I am listening to you, but all I hear is the same crap coming from you, it's all about the damned leader!"

"I am not; I'm trying to reason with you!"

"Well stop trying," I said icily. Then I turned my back to him and began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" The yellow budded asked in an icy tone.

"I'm going to find food; someone has to do that, am I right?"

* * *

Exiting the clearing, I decided on a random direction and began to trudge through the snow. I realized we had never exited the clearing to explore the surrounding landscape. No wonder we were running out of food.

I stayed close to the trunks of the trees that towered above me. The snow was much shallower near the tree trunks making it easier for me to maneuver. At first, finding nectar was merely an excuse to get away from the yellow budded pikmin. Now, though, I realized it was very important, we needed food.

I was traveling very far and every place seemed to look the same. I was so small and this forest was huge. Luckily, because of the snow, my feet left small tracks in the snow. They would be easy to follow back and they would lead me to the clearing.

I continued to walk, that is when I heard a soft noise. It sounded like something buzzing and slowly it began to get louder. I looked around frantically hoping to get a look at it, to see if it was an enemy.

From my left, the producer of the noise came into view, soaring around a tree trunk. It was flying through the air on two transparent wings, which were very small compared to its bulging brown body. I stared at the ridiculous looking creature as it soared above me, and then saw something that gave me a spark of surprise. Was that?

I spun around to get another look at the creature. It was! Wedged between its two crooked limbs, the creature was carrying a blue pellet. It had found food!

Anxiously, I traced the creature's course. It had appeared at the third tree on my right. This was the only lead I had, but it was certainly better than nothing.

Rounding said tree, noticed a slight rise in the ground. It was a small hill but it took a lot of effort to climb up it due to the deep snow. At the top, the hill started to slope down immediately, opening into a valley below. I glanced down, maintaining my vantage point. I looked for any signs of vegetation. Suddenly I noticed something that didn't match in the sea of dark brown bark and glistening white. I squinted harder and there, in the shade, was a dozen pellet producing flowers.

And a small group of cyan pikmin harvesting the pellets…

I threw myself down upon the ground instinctively, getting over the initial shock of it. My face was buried in snow so I cautiously looked up. A mound of snow was in my way so I nervously brushed it away and gazed down towards the cyans.

I stopped breathing. They seemed to be looking right at me, staring as if they had noticed my movements. A few moments passed by before they resumed harvesting pellets. To my mild surprise, there seemed to be some cyan coloured pellets growing off of some of the plants. The cyan pikmin obviously harvested these. They also harvested the other usual pellets too; red, blue and yellow. They destroyed the plants holding the pellets in a rather unique way. They curled their whip like stem around the upper part of the plant. Then with a sharp tug, the plant's stem broke in two and the pellet fell from above.

That is when my senses perked up. It took me a moment to realize it…someone was behind me.

I wheeled around, springing to my feet, mushroom flinging through the air. And with a twist of my stem, the mushroom hit… the yellow budded pikmin.

He landed on the snow with a soft thud, a startled look upon his face. I mirrored his look, before my face turned into one of disdain. "What are you doing here?!" I asked in a sharp tone.

"I saw that creature too and that it was carrying a pellet, so I knew that there must be food somewhere," the yellow budded pikmin replied. "I want to help the rest of us."

"I might need some help, but there seems to be a few problems," I replied mechanically.

"Did you find food?"

"Yes, but a few cyans' beat us to it."

The yellow budded was interested by this and glanced over the mound to take a look. The glance turned into a long stare, a look of concern developing across his face. "They, ah, they don't seem to be there," he breathed.

"What!" I said quickly, and then I took a look myself. "They left all of their pellets."

The yellow's stem stiffened in alarm, seeing a great danger in this. "We need to go, now!"

* * *

We sprinted down the hill, stumbling through the thick snow. My mushroom pulsed with energy and I was breathing hard. The yellow pikmin looked as scared as I did, he led the way. He remembered to follow the tracks that we had left on our way here.

Still running we reached the first tree, but we didn't dare to stop. We needed to get away from here, get back to the others. That's when I remembered something…the stones.

"Get behind the next tree!"

"What…why?"

"Flingers…..just do it, damn it!"

"What are flingers?"

"DO IT!"

The yellow pikmin complied and dove behind the nearest trunk. I quickly followed suite and found myself bolted against the rough bark of the trunk, next to the yellow budded pikmin. We both were shaking, not from the cold though.

The yellow pikmin gave me a glare. "We need to get back!"

"You don't think I know that! But we can be killed if we stay in the open!"

"How!"

"Flying stones, they'll kill us!"

The yellow pikmin gave me a confused look. But then he seemed to remember something and gave a short nod. Then he edged himself around the trunk of the tree to get a look.

"No, wait what are you doi….."

The yellow pikmin was already back, looking pale in the face and breathing even harder. "Ther…there are two of them…..they are chec…checking our tracks…."

I looked desperately for a place to hide, a cave of some sort, somewhere perfect. But it was all trees and snow…

The yellow budded pikmin had gone for another look. He came back looking even more terrified. "They've vanished, I can't see them….oh they could be anywhere…"

"We need to stay quiet," I said, but my voice was wavering, an aura of fear and inevitability had come over me. A terror like nothing before.

I felt totally exposed and had the pressing urge to run, but I knew we were doomed if we did that. But were we not doomed either way?

A low buzzing sound came from above, fear turned into puzzlement as me and the yellow pikmin looked up. The same creature that had been carrying a pellet was back, hovering high above us. Scanning the terrain with red eyes……

…the rock from the flinger narrowly missed me. Instead, it hit the trunk right next to my face. Hitting it with such force that splintered bark brushed against my face. I fought against the instinct to dive to the ground. Instead I glanced towards the yellow budded pikmin, who nodded again.

Then we started to run.

Deep snow or not, we ran as fast as we could. I didn't look around at the dangers, but at the tracks that led the way to safety ahead of us. The buzzing of the creature above us was drowned out, when suddenly the ground exploded beside me. Snow showered in my face and the force of the bomb rock almost made me fall. I had to pin wheel my arms to keep upright.

The next bomb rock hit to right of the yellow budded pikmin. He yelped in surprise and moved to the left, getting away from the crater that had formed. Another explosion came from behind us, farther than the last two but still frightening.

Suddenly we were surrounded by bomb rocks exploding. I could feel the heat of each one as they narrowly missed. The noise was deafening, I couldn't hear anything else.

I…just…had…to...keep...running.

The yellow pikmin was trying to shout something to me. I couldn't hear him though, than he shouted impossibly loud. I could just slightly hear his voice through the loud blasts of bomb rocks.

"Zig-zag! Don't move straight!"

I made no sign of agreement, but just cut across the snow diagonally, away from the yellow pikmin. A bomb rock hit the snow in front of me, I slipped in the snow trying to change direction and get away from the blast. I was now running back towards the yellow pikmin. Another explosion, behind me, if I had been a few seconds slow I would have been dead.

Two bomb rocks hit the area between me and the yellow pikmin, creating a massive explosion. I couldn't see the yellow pikmin anymore and I looked fearfully through the kicked up snow. Still, nothing. But I had to keep running.

Another explosion. Boom. And I felt some thing hard hit me in the chest. I stumbled, falling down to the snow. My head felt dizzy, everything I heard was muffled. Everything I saw was a great, smudged blur.

Get up…..

Another bomb rock to my right. The heat scorching my skin.

Get up!

I pushed myself up with both hands. My head was starting to clear, but I could barely run. Something wet was trickling down my arm. I limped weakly towards the nearest tree, trying to get away. It was futile though.

In the corner of my eye, I noticed the yellow budded pikmin screaming and running towards me. Then the bomb rock hit. Boom. And the yellow budded pikmin's body flew through the air, crashing into the snow in front of me.

This time it was me who was screaming. But I couldn't hear my voice over everything else, everything that did not matter anymore. The yellow pikmin lay sprawled across the snow, eyes half open and unseeing.

I made it the rest of the way and knelt beside him. I was shouting into his long pointy ears, telling him to get up. This time I could hear my voice because the bomb rocks had stopped. All I could hear was my shouting, the buzzing off the flying creature still above, and the demented cheers of cyan pikmin.

"COME ON! Get up damn it!" I screamed. Desperately I tried to hoist him over my shoulder, but his limp body felt like a ton. I was too weak to carry him, I just didn't have it.

Through eyes glazed with tears, I watched as the cyans ran towards us. Some carried flingers; others had sharpened sticks in their hands. Everything was in slow motion and I could see the flying creature dive down and snatch up two of the cyan pikmin. But it couldn't snatch up all of them. Half of the cyan pikmin turned their attention towards the flying thing, apparently annoyed. Now one of the cyans still running towards us took his sharp stick and threw it at us.

The stick flew through the air before it embedded itself in the snow. Very close to where I stood. In desperation I took the yellow budded pikmin's arms and started to drag his body across the ground. Even though I knew he was dead a part of my mind refused to believe it. It couldn't happen, not now. Another sharp stick flew by me and landed in the snow ahead of me.

The third stick ripped through the side of my neck before landing with the last one. I screamed in pain and let go of the yellow pikmin and collapsed to the ground. I clasped my hands over the gash trying to stop the fluid from gushing out. Already though the snow around me was stained a dark purple. I tried to press some cool snow against the wound. But the snow strangely melted and became water burning my neck even more. I dropped the rest of the snow horrified by the discovery.

I crawled back to the yellow pikmin, who lay there in the snow. Not caring, indifferent about the dangers the surrounded us. I grabbed another stick that had hit the snow beside us. I wanted to hit one of the cyans, kill one of them first. I tried to stand up and throw it, but my legs didn't seem to work. It was even hard to get up on my knees.

That's when another sharp stick flew through the air and embedded itself in the yellow budded pikmin's torso. The yellow pikmin's eyes seemed to shoot opened and he let out a long cry of agony. I stared at him in disbelief before saying, "Don't touch it, I'll pull it out okay?" The yellow pikmin started to pant, coughing up yellow fluid that spilled over his body. But he gave me a quick nod.

I grasped my hands around the stick, ignoring the fluid the continued to gush out of my neck. I pulled as hard as I could, but the stick would not budge. The yellow budded pikmin also curled his two hands around the stick and tried to help too. The stick started to come free…

While pulling, I glanced back at the cyans. They where right there, they would be on us in a few mere seconds. Even if I did get the stick out of the yellow budded pikmin, we were still dead. It was inevitable, we could not win.

That's when the flying creature swooped down again. A look off greed shone in its two red eyes as it snatched up two of the nearest cyan pikmin. In its flight it managed to knock down the rest as well. The cyan pikmin screamed in outrage as they stumbled back up. The flying creature meanwhile, took its two latest victims in its crooked legs and flew high up into the air. Then, with a swift motion, the creature threw them at the ground. The cyan pikmin fell at a considerable speed and punctured through the snow. Only their long stems could be seen and they seemed to be trapped.

The stick was now almost out of the yellow pikmin. The more we pulled though, the more pain the yellow seemed to be in. Finally only the sharp tip remained, it was lodged in there hard. Desperately I gave it a strong yank, but the yellow pikmin screamed in agony. Fluid had bubbled out of the wound and was dripping off of his body. I hesitated, not knowing what to do. The yellow pikmin despite in much pain gave me a hard look and said "Do it, do it or I will die."

I pulled harder and the yellow pikmin screamed. The stick edged slowly out but the yellow pikmin screamed even louder, neon fluid gurgling everywhere. It was worth it though, as the stick came free. It was soaked with innards and it had left a bad wound in the yellow pikmin.

"Can you walk?" I asked.

"I…don't know," the yellow pikmin gasped.

"We need to try, so we can…make it to cover," I replied.

The cyan pikmin had their complete attention turned towards the flying creature. The flying creature dived towards a small group of them, but the cyan pikmin dived out of the way. They began to load their flingers with fresh chunks of bomb rocks…

The yellow pikmin tried to stand up. But there was nothing to support him, so he collapsed to the ground. I tried to stand and was successful, but my legs felt so weak.

"Here I'll try to support you," I said. Reaching down, I grabbed him by the hand and pulled him from the ground. The yellow pikmin put his arm around my shoulder and tried to support some of himself. He still felt heavy and I didn't know if I could keep us upright. The yellow budded pikmin noticed this and planted his good leg into the snow. It kept us standing and using the three legs we began to hobble towards the nearest tree.

BOOM

I heard an explosion behind us and fearfully looked back. The flying creature was wavering in the air, looking very unsteady. The cyan's below where cheering again as they prepared to load their slings with more bomb rock pieces. I realized that the flying creature had been hit by a bomb rock chunk. Its bloated back had been blown open and one of its wings was missing. It was trying to maintain flight, but it seemed unfocused and too weak. And with a final buzz with its one remaining wing, it fell towards the earth.

And towards the yellow pikmin and I.

"Take cover!"

In a desperate act, I threw the yellow pikmin upon the ground and then dove after him. I buried myself into the snow as the creature, plummeted and hit the ground right behind me. The ground shook as a wave of snow engulfed us. I couldn't see the yellow budded pikmin at all. I dug myself out of the displaced snow and looked around in desperation. I could see the yellow pikmin's head and stem sticking out of the snow. He began to dig himself out of the snow with my help. A buzzing sound that came from behind us told me the creature was still alive.

"Here take my hand; I'll try to lift you…"

A spindly brown arm suddenly snatched the yellow pikmin, hoisting him into the air. I felt something grab me too, and then I was lifted up into the air. The creature was trying to fly again, and it was still following its pikmin snatching instincts. I had never wanted to fly, and a dizzying feeling of nausea came over me. It was having a hard time flying, it's buzzing wing would choke and sputter. We were close to the ground and the flight was unsteady, dipping and rising in spasms. I glanced at the yellow budded pikmin, he looked as sick as I did.

The cyan pikmin were shouting behind us, but it didn't matter we were getting away. I didn't like the feeling of flight, but it was for the best. My instincts were urging me to struggle, but I fought them.

BOOM

A bomb rock it a tree that we were soaring by, bark splintering into the creature's face. I had forgotten about the bomb rocks. Suddenly the fear was back and I started to struggle, wanting to get out of the creature's limbs……

BOOM

The creature was launched forwards as the bomb rock hit it in the back. The propelling motion was so violent; it felt as though my mushroom would be yanked off due to velocity. I struggled even more, not wanting to be crushed when we hit the snow. The creature's limbs suddenly unhooked themselves from my body, and then I was in a free fall. The yellow budded pikmin was falling beside me, and then something hot and wet splashed in my face. I couldn't see, but it felt as if I was falling for miles.

Then I hit the ground.

Even with the soft snow to cushion my fall, it still hurt. My legs were crushed under the weight of the rest of my body, which crumpled as the ground pounded it like a creature's foot. Then a sharp pain erupted in my skull and I let out a scream. My body urged me to let go and drift into unconsciousness. My instincts though were perked up as high as they could be. If I let go, it was all over.

I lifted myself out of the pocket of snow and looked around. The creature had crashed far ahead of us, well what remained of the creature. Bits and pieces of smoking flesh littered the ground, dotting a path to its carcass. That's not what I wanted to see though. Where was the yellow?

I looked beside me and there was no sign, not even a mark in the snow to signify an impact. I looked to my other side, nothing there except one of the creatures's blown off limbs. Before panic could settle in, I saw the yellow budded pikmin behind me. He seemed close, but what bothered me was the cyan pikmin that were quickly closing in on us.

A jolt of adrenaline pulsed through me. I pushed myself up and started to limp towards the yellow pikmin. I could barely feel my sore foot anymore though, so I started to run. I needed to get the yellow pikmin, than get us to cover.

"Come on! Get up!" I screamed as I reached the yellow pikmin. Fortunately he was still conscious and he was trying to stand himself up, but he was too weak.

"You go…I'll stall them"

"Don't even think about it!" I yanked him out of the snow, pulling him to his feet at the same time. Then I was heading for the nearest tree, the yellow pikmin half walking, half dragging behind him me.

…I felt the rush of air as a bomb rock hissed by, inches from my head…

...A burning heat scorched my mushroom, as the bomb rock exploded beside me…

…My body was stumbling backwards, as the shockwave hit me…

And then I had reached the trunk. I raced around the curved base until I was sure the cyans could not hit us. The yellow pikmin was finally able to stand, and he was leaning heavily on the bark and panting. I pressed my back against the bark too and didn't dare to glance at the approaching cyans yet. The warm, rough feel of the tree felt welcoming as tears of pain and gratitude streamed down my face.

It didn't take long for the first cyan to get to the tree. As soon as he rounded the corner and came to the view, I got up and planted myself between the yellow budded pikmin and the cyan. My mushroom was behind my head ready to smoke the cyan if the bastard came too close.

The cyan pikmin looked at me and smiled, shaking his head at the same time. "You know and _I know _that you are in no condition to fight me. Give up and I'll give to you what mercy I have left."

"Stay back, stay back or I will kill you before you can even blink."

"_How_."

"You will have no idea…."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

I spun around to see the yellow pikmin screaming in pain. Behind him was a cyan pikmin, its steam lying limply on the ground. He had whipped him.

"Ah, you also have seemed to forget that you are outnumbered. Do you care to explain how you will kill all of us?" The first cyan pikmin asked softly.

"I will not hesitate to kill your friend here," the second cyan added. "Don't try anything, or he'll get much worse than a whippi…"

The cyan pikmin never got to finish his sentence, because the stone that had been aimed at him, struck him in the chest. The cyan flew backwards screaming in pain. Then he hit his head on the bark with such force that the screaming abruptly stopped.

I looked at where the stone had come from and there, far away, was the group of coloured pikmin charging at us. In the midst was the white pikmin, a flinger in his hand.

The cyan pikmin looked as shocked as I did. He looked even more surprised when I took the opportunity to slam my mushroom into his face. The cyan pikmin fell backwards; trying to defend himself but my uppercut still hit him square in the chin. His limp body hit the ground seconds later, and I resisted the urge to stomp my foot onto his face.

A cluster of bomb rocks, flung by unseen cyan pikmin, made a beeline for the pikmin. The coloured pikmin scattered, diving behind tree trunks as explosions rocked the ground. When the smoke cleared I could see that none of the coloured pikmin had gotten hit.

I watched as a group of cyans charged passed our tree, ignoring us, intent on the bigger threat. A red pikmin took advantage of this opportunity, stepping out from his cover with the flinger to get a shot off. If that pikmin had the flinger though, where was the white pikmin? The red pikmin's shot was successful as it hit a cyan pikmin in the thigh, disabling him. The cyan screamed as a turquoise liquid gushed from the wound.

The cyan pikmin stopped their advance; one of them with a flower ordered a leaf to tend to the injured cyan. The remaining cyan's split into two groups, one started to head to the left side, probably hoping to flank my friends. The remaining were armed with flingers, they stayed out in the open, probably to give cover fire. I noticed that two cyan pikmin carried large sacks, made from the same material as the flingers. These seemed to carry the bomb rocks.

Luckily the yellow budded pikmin and I were on the right side. We could circle around and meet our pikmin on the flank. That is if there were any of our pikmin still alive when we got there.

"Come on," I urged the yellow pikmin. "I think we can make it to safety."

The yellow pikmin nodded. When I made a move to help him, he stopped me. "I think I can…walk now."

I returned a nod and we headed right, away from the battle and towards a thick line of tree trunks. That would supply us decent cover to return to our friends. The yellow pikmin had a very weak leg and limped heavily, but he seemed to have recovered well. I was even happier to know that there was still a chance that we could make out alive.

Both sides in the battle seemed to have even ground. The small group of cyan's armed with flingers were pounding bomb rock after bomb rock into the trees that the coloured pikmin were hiding behind. The bark seemed badly burnt and beyond repair, but the trees were too thick. Bomb rocks could barely damage the tree as a whole. And the cyan pikmin seemed to have overused the rocks as they were down to only a handful of them. The second cyan group was nowhere in sight, which I couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The yellow and I had made it to the tree line. The battle was pretty far away and a sense of security began to comfort me. The sound of explosions had stopped which meant that there were no more bomb rocks in play.

"Hey! Over here!"

I looked ahead of us to see the white pikmin racing past the trees. He was happily waving to us, but his voice had sounded tense. I let a smile creep across my face as I returned the wave, the yellow pikmin behind me doing so as well.

"How did you all know to come here?" I asked as he approached us.

"We'll your friend here actually had the brains to tell a red pikmin that he was going to find food," the white pikmin explained. He made a gesture of thanks to the yellow budded pikmin, who nodded weakly. "Then we heard the explosions and we figured something bad had happened."

"Thank you," I said. "Thank you so much."

The white pikmin shrugged. "I also taught a couple of them how to use the flinger." He then pointed towards a group of cyan pikmin running for cover. Flingers were in there hands, but they were useless without bomb rocks. I watched as a stone bolted through the air and nicked a straggler in the stem.

The white pikmin seemed relived by this. Letting out a huge sigh, he said, "Good, seems like they've beat us to the retreat."

"Great," the yellow pikmin said. "I say we get back to the main group."

We both nod in agreement and started to head in the direction that the white pikmin had appeared. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and I started to feel tired. I now realized how hungry I actually was. I wondered how much nectar we still had left, _if_ there was any left.

"I should never have gone, I almost killed us both," I started to say.

"Yes you should have, you did it for the good of everyone. You were trying to find food," the yellow budded pikmin replied.

"No I was selfish, I used the whole food idea as an excuse. I just wanted to get away from you."

I waited for the yellow budded pikmin's reply, but it never came. Amused I said, "Is it really that surprising?"

The white pikmin and I sensed the danger at the same time. We turned around and saw the yellow pikmin, one of the cyan's sharp sticks jutting out of him. Everything seemed fuzzy as I started to run towards him, even as he collapsed to the ground. I was screaming by then, screaming at the yellow budded pikmin, screaming at the white pikmin. Even before I could reach the yellow pikmin, I felt a searing pain in my torso. I looked down to see the sharp end of the stick that had burst through my left side.

I fell to my knees, feeling light headed, it was hard to breath. The white pikmin was beside me, pushing and pulling on the stick, trying to keep me upright. Then the white pikmin was pulled away by one of three cyan pikmin, who had gathered around us. I felt like I was going to die, and this, this scene that was unraveling before me, was going to be the last thing I witnessed in this cruel world.

"You idiot!" screamed one of the cyan's. "You've managed to kill one of them and seriously wound the other!"

"Who cares, we can still take them back," insisted another.

"What you're going to do, carry them?"

"No, but that one….." He seemed to be pointing at me.

"That one's too weak to travel, he won't last!"

"We could give him nectar………"

"Never! You don't realize how limited our supply is do you?"

"Well……"

"Shut up! Never mind, we got what we wanted; we all decided we wanted to try something different right?" The cyan was gesturing at the white pikmin who struggled in his arms. "Well this guy looks different."

"He's so small though….."

"We caught him though! So we claim him!"

Then they were gone, running swiftly away. I didn't bother to look at them; I already realized that they had taken my white friend. That was enough; I knew I couldn't die yet. But my body had already seemed to decide for me and I gave one last shallow breath before everything vanished into a hazy red. A red that blotted out all hope…

**Very long action scene there. But it's meant to set up the next part of the story.**

**Expect the next chapter up..sometime. But thanks for reading this one!**


	11. Born

**It is updated! I am sincerly sorry for such the long wait, I know you all want to kill me, but then it will be an even longer update so think about that.**

Pain…numbing my body everywhere. My head felt heavy, I felt like I was drowning. Something then began to crawl its way up my throat. I choked and started to cough. I continued to cough until the sludgy stuff had spilled out over my face. I slowly opened my eyes as my arm reached up and wiped the fluid off of me.

I tried to sit up and immediately fell back to the ground in pain. Glancing at my left side I saw a big tear in the skin creating a big hole. Looking at it made me feel more nauseated and lying down I could feel another wound on my back.

Where the dammed stick had gone through…

I closed my eyes again and a wave of images blinked into my head.

The yellow budded pikmin lying motionless on the ground.

The white pikmin being brutally beaten by a couple of cyans.

_They are all dead…_

A red pikmin's body exploding vividly as it got hit by a bomb rock.

_What can you do?_

The voice was back.

_Nothing…_

I am insane.

_No, you are…_

"He's awake everybody, look!"

Reopening my eyes I saw a red pikmin jogging towards me. I felt a smile condensate on to my face. They were still alive, I was alive.

_Your friend is dead…_

"Can you stand up?" The red pikmin was right over me and looking down upon my broken body.

"…Don't know…"

"Stay down then, can I get you some nectar?"

"I'm…fine"

"Don't be stubborn now; I'll get you some now"

Too tired to turn my head I lazily watched from the corner of my eye. I saw the red pikmin judging which chunk of nectar was softest, two blues were helping him.

He returned and shoved the piece of nectar into my mouth. "Chew," was all that he had to say.

The nectar was as good as it had always been. The more I chewed the weaker the pain and the stress got. Eventually I swallowed and then I fell back to sleep.

* * *

Another blur of visions. Of death, pain and suffering. They scarred my mind and I felt the pain too. There was no stopping it.

_The world is just a shade a grey_

It's in my head I don't care

_Just because it's in your head doesn't mean it isn't real_

I don't care!

_Really?_

And then the yellow budded pikmin appeared in front of me. His chest was torn open and worms were crawling out…

I was awake in an instant. The realization was sudden and it glowed in my eyes. The yellow budded pikmin, he had been with me. That means he might be around here.

_He's dead_

No…

It was night time and I tried to stand. That was simply impossible though and I fell down again.

_He's dead_

"No!"

_Dead like everyone else will be_

"Never…"

"He's dead, listen to yourself!"

I looked up; the red pikmin was standing over me. A grim look was on his face.

"What did you say?" I choked out.

"You were blabbering out loud. The budded pikmin, the yellow, he is dead."

I swallowed hard and suddenly I found it hard to look at the red pikmin. "Where is he?" I managed to breath after a while.

"What do you mean?"

"The body! Where is his body?" I was now fully alert and awake, my body filled with some of the strongest emotions I could experience.

"Are you sure you're strong enough?" The red asked.

"Yes damnit! I survived all this, I think I can make it!" I was swaying between anger and sorrow, yet I did not seem to know.

"It's…over there. Listen its night, can we not wait until morning?" The red pikmin said in a nervous voice.

"No, lead me to it," I replied while trying to get on my feet. This time it was simple.

Clouds covered the sky so there were no gems to light the way. The path was dark and the way ahead lay unseen. The red pikmin was easy to spot against the deep blues produced by the night sky. I slowly limped behind him, the snow soothing my raw legs.

The yellow pikmin's body had been buried on a small mound. The red pikmin waited at the base while I climbed up. At the top the budded pikmin's stem poked out of the snow. It was not straight up in the air but lay limply on the ground, shriveling up ever so slowly. It had just given up, not like its owner, the yellow pikmin, who had kept with me until the very end.

The more I stood there, the more memories that came floating in. And slowly those memories seemed to sag on me as I felt my body go limp. Before I crumpled to the ground I managed to turn away, everything now seemed fuzzy and unfocused. My vision was laced with haunting things.

The red pikmin approached me, his face bearing a look of indifference: "You done?"

"Yes," I breathed out.

The red pikmin gave me a puzzled look, "You seem really…"

"Of course I am, there's a dead pikmin right there!" I snapped back.

The red cocked an eye, "Yes and there are three other pikmin buried nearby, I've had my remorse but I've gotten over it."

"This is…different."

"How so? Pikmin die every day, and we'll continue too!" The red said. "The world is full of predators, stop imagining it as the perfect place. It hardly ever will be."

"That's our problem don't you see! We need stop treating ourselves as a group! We need to be seen as individuals, individuals of our own style and personality."

Another funny look from the red pikmin: "How long have you been thinking about that?"

"Since this whole thing has begun."

"Funny how one experience can change someone."

"You don't seem to have changed," I remarked.

"I have," the red replied. "Besides you have never talked to me before."

That was true, but yet this red pikmin did not seem bugged at all about…everything.

"We should head back," the red said. "Predators could be anywhere."

"Okay, let's go," I said. When we left the area, I didn't take a single glance back towards the grave…

* * *

Morning came brutally fast and exhaustion had swept over me again. I had a miraculously dreamless sleep, not one full of death, and I did not want to wake up.

I cracked open an eyelid and glanced around. Other pikmin were doing various tasks and seemed busy. Watching them work made me even more tired, so I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was still in "recovery" and fell back asleep.

And I dreamt…of my first memory, ever.

* * *

_I am alive, this is me._

_It was warm. It was dark. It was home. Yet where was I?_

_My body felt ripe and afresh, I wanted to move and jump but I couldn't. I was stuck in this…dirt. _

_Yet, my body loved it. It absorbed energy from the dirt; it kept my body in this state. It seemed satisfied down here. If my body was satisfied, then I guess I should be too…_

_There was one part though that was not covered in dirt. It was above me, not in the warm moist darkness, but in a cool, open place. _

_A light breeze whiffed through this open area and gently tickled my upper appendage. This sparked a new thought in me, a yearning to get up there and reach the open myself. To taste it, to bathe in it, to see what could be seen up there. But I could not budge an inch, I was hopelessly trapped._

_My wish was granted a few moments later though. Something grabbed on to my upper appendage and began pulling it. I felt my body get released from this prison, and then with a pop! I was into the open!_

_All my senses became active and I squeaked with pleasure, it was so vast. So many things to see everywhere, there was no nothing, just everything. My body wanted to do so many things at once and I had to restrain myself. My body itself seemed perfect; a cool beautiful colour and it fit into my surroundings perfectly making me feel at home._

"_Welcome."_

_Another one of my senses picked this voice up and there was another wave of joy as the sound reverberated in my head. I turned around and saw something that looked just like me. Or maybe I should say "someone"._

_My identical partner looked at me: "Do you know how to speak?"_

_It came out as a soft squeak, surprising me the most: "I…guess."_

_He smiled and then said, "Welcome fellow pikmin, to your new life!"_

"_Pikmin? That's what I am?"_

"_That is what we all our!" He pointed all over the clearing and indeed there were other "pikmin" around. Some were the same colour as the two of us; others were either one of two different colours. I wondered if we all got along. That's when I noticed someone funny, someone that didn't seem as organic as the rest of us. My senses gave a surge of suspicion. _

"_Who's that," I asked, pointing at this strange being._

"_Who's that?" The pikmin laughed. "Your instincts should be telling you that he is our- that he is __**your **__leader."_

"_Instincts?"_

"_Things that our body just knows, and has known since the beginning. Like what's dangerous and who's the enemy…"_

"_This leader thing. Is he someone in command?"_

"_Definitely" _

"_Okay…"_

_And he began to explain the things pikmin do, and what we have always done._

_It was later on in the day when I began to get bored. It had been tiring repeats of following the whistle, being thrown and picking up heavy stuff that we carried back to base._

_While bringing back a dead creature to our "onion" with five other pikmin I asked some more questions._

"_Is there ever a chance," I squeaked. "That we'll get to do some exploring on our own?"_

_A red pikmin groaned, "Oh no it's a seedling…"_

_A yellow pikmin snapped at him, "Shut up, you're only four days old." He turned to me: "What was your question again?"_

"_Do we ever get to explore independently? You know, not following the leader?"_

"_We aren't capable of doing such things," the yellow pikmin said. "We would die by ourselves. We need to rely on the leader, and that is how it has been forever."_

_Another yellow pikmin, this one with a bud, decided to say something. "Forever, is a long time. There must have been a day when we did not have a leader."_

_The other yellow pikmin: "That would have been harsh times for us…"_

"_Not necessarily," said the yellow budded pikmin. 'We have everything we need to take care of ourselves; the leader gives us more than we need."_

"_The leader gives us life!"_

_The yellow budded pikmin ignored him. "We have grown lazy. We have leeched off of the leader and now we do not have a sense of purpose anymore. Some day we will go back to the harsh times and we will not be prepared…"_

"_What makes you think that?"_

"_The leader won't need us forever. He will dispose of us one day like he has with all the creatures we have killed."_

_No one had anything else to say, but there was an electrical tension strong in the air. The yellow pikmin gave me a sly smile…_

* * *

I awoke again unwillingly. Tiredly I decided I had enough sleep and struggled to get to my feet. I wasn't hungry so I didn't go immediately to the nectar pile, but I did want to talk and get filled in on our next action and what had happened.

The surroundings were still the same, the sky wasn't clear though. The trees towering above cast great shadows upon the ground. The snow still remained a giant white tarp over the landscape.

_White_

It began to trickle in slowly; a horrifying revelation that caused my motives to be turned inside out.

I realized that I needed to talk. Now.

* * *

"It is not going to work," A blue pikmin said simply. All the pikmin were gathered around me, their gazes full of doubt, uncertainty and fear.

"Why not?" I said. "We cannot wait here for the rest of our lives! Besides, sooner or later the cyans will come back for us!"

"We're going to attack them, just to rescue _one _pikmin?"

There it was again, not treating ourselves as individuals. I wanted to give a cold remark back to the pikmin but I needed to convince them. That was my priority. "Not to rescue the white pikmin. But listen, those cyans probably have a lot of resources with them, if we could defeat them we could take those resources for ourselves!"

"Yes, but look how many of us there are. Compared to how many of _them._"

"Who said we had to defeat the cyans. We could just steal from them at night. We don't have to make a full scale attack." It was not me who said it, but the red pikmin I had talked to last night. The red turned to me, "I'm liking this idea."

Looking at my fellow pikmin, I was happy to see that a lot of them now looked interested. A couple still remained doubtful.

"How in the slightest idea, do you expect us to find this colony?"

"It hasn't snowed in a while," a yellow chirped in. "We should be able to find the footprints and track them."

"What about our incapacitated pikmin," a different red said. He pointed across the clearing to where that unconscious mushroom pikmin lay.

A chill went down my spine as I remembered the giant mushroom. Half of me wanted to leave the mushroom pikmin there and to never see it again, but the other half reminded me that I still was like him and that I should care for him more than any other pikmin.

"We can take turns carrying him," a blue said. "It won't be too hard."

Everyone seemed to be nodding now. They liked my idea. I smiled and said: "So, we leave tomorrow?"

My words were followed by a chorus of agreement.

**Review if you want, but thanks for reading!**


	12. Red n' Blue

**Take a deep breath or pinch yourself, you're not dreaming . Spored really was updated this quickly!!!**

**Disclaimer: Vrex will be sued if he even jokes about owning pikmin**

**Red n' blue**

"What's happening to him?"

"I think he's waking up…"

The voices came from the far side of our group. They sounded urgent and it prodded my immediate attention. I took the nectar out of my mouth and began to wander towards the pikmin who were attracting such commotion.

We had been traveling for a day and a half now, following various signs that the cyan's had left us. They were usually in the form of the spidering dots that were left by pikmin's feet. It felt actually pretty good to be traveling again and to not be staying in one place. I surprisingly felt safer when I was on the move and less of a sitting target. We had been extremely lucky so far in our journey, finding numerous nectar pieces and pellets. There had been little encounters with creatures of any sort. It was beginning to feel too easy. The urgent voices now had been the only thing to have sparked my unease.

The two pikmin that had been speaking had drawn the attention of everyone else in our group. I had to shuffle around many pikmin to get a better look. Finding a gap, I was able to glance at the source of our sudden awareness.

It was the unconscious mushroom pikmin. Only that he was not unconscious any more, he seemed to be coughing and groaning. He shook his head multiple times as if trying to shake something off of it, nothing was there though. He started to blink multiple times, exposing the pure white of his eyes each time. It felt like I was looking at a perfect reflection of myself and I started to feel a bit intimidated.

"Get him some nectar," a blue shouted. The blue himself was busy trying to help the mushroom pikmin sit up. He was successful though the mushroom pikmin seemed to sway slightly, like a leaf in a light breeze.

Nectar came in a few moments and was thrusted into the mushroom pikmin's hands. He grasped it tiredly and delicately took a bite with his mouth. After taking forever to swallow he let out a deep sigh. That's when he seemed to notice his body; he eyed his purple arm before moving it up to tenderly touch his mushroom. His eyes seemed to droop in despair. "What happened to me?" he asked, his voice was quavering.

"You were spored by a mushroom back in the desert," a yellow replied flatly.

"But…"

"Don't worry we'll find a way to put you back to normal. And this guy as well," the yellow pointed at me and I raised my eye at him. Shrugging the yellow turned back to the other mushroom pikmin. "You're safe with us," he confirmed with a nod.

_Safe_. Hardly, we will never be safe. Where we were going right now was anything but safe. I know the yellow pikmin was just trying to comfort this mushroom pikmin, but his words still bothered me like an itch.

* * *

The mushroom pikmin was in good condition and was able to do everything without assistance. When we resumed our trek he was able to keep a steady pace without tiring. Pretty good for a pikmin who's been unconcious for numerous days.

I was uneasy around him though. I remembered that time when the mushroom had used him as a mouthpiece and had spoken to me. The idea of this was more alarming than the words the mushroom had actually said.

These thoughts clouded my mind from my main mission. The cyan's lay out there with the white pikmin; who I had no idea whether he was dead or alive. It could already be a lost cause already. I could just be leading myself towards something that was impossible to win. If that was the case though, the white pikmin already dead, then the idea of revenge would appear as delicious as a piece of nectar…

* * *

We had found more cyan tracks by late afternoon. A yellow was situated at the front of the group, leading us on. The skies above were completely clear so we did not have to worry about snow fall. I was at the rear, constantly gazing behind us for any signs of creatures. That flinger that was once the white's was in my hand. I was doing this when the other mushroom pikmin appeared beside me.

I gave him a blank look before saying, "What do you want?"

"To talk to you," was his steady reply.

"Why?"

He smiled at my indifferent attitude and said, "We're both the same. We're different than the rest; I think it's fair to say that we should know each other."

I may have looked indifferent on the outside but inside I was nervous. Thoughts of the mushroom flickered on and off in my head. I really did not want to be around the mushroom pikmin. "Just because we're both mushroom pikmin doesn't mean we are the same."

"We are the same in their eyes," the mushroom pikmin gave a gesture towards everyone else in the clearing. "We're seen as _not pikmin_. We are looked at as something that can't be like them. We've been attached to a different entity, a mushroom and for all they care we still are _attached_."

A chill went through me. "Not everyone thinks that. Besides a lot of them were once mushroom pikmin too."

"They _were_ mushroom pikmin, but not anymore."

"They are only just normal pikmin," I said. "They're still our friends."

"Are they?" The mushroom pikmin said. "There is someone they put more love into than anyone in this group."

The answered appeared into my head. I didn't speak it because it was so clear. The mushroom pikmin gave me a nod and then walked back towards the front of the group.

Maybe we were the same…

* * *

The forest was beginning to change now. As I walked I noticed that the "Evergreen" trees were slowly getting replaced by the normal looking trees that lacked any leaves. It was odd looking at these trees now, maybe because it was their leaves that made them whole and not naked. Looking up into the maze of branches I could see numerous creatures scurrying up and down, carving their way through the bark. They were so high up that they didn't seem a threat.

We were going to find a place to settle for the night soon. The sun was beginning to melt on the horizon causing colours to splash across the sky. I would envy if the clouds returned right now, blocking my view of this wonder.

"There's something over there!"

The call came from the front of the group. Everyone immediately turned their attention towards the individual min. It was a red and he was pointing to our left. I looked that way along with everyone else. I squinted but couldn't see anything of mild interest, just trees and a waving sea of snow. Slowly other pikmin reacted.

"Is that…"

"No it's impossible."

"Yet look, there they are!"

Pikimn began to run towards this invisible object and I was subject to follow. It seemed it must have been good as pikmin around me gave cries of joy, whopping and hollering happily. I fixed my eyes up ahead, until I saw…

No…

That's impossible…

Up ahead lay the three onions, blue yellow and red. They sat in a small valley legs embedded in the snow. Around them were small clusters of pikmin, but even more shocking was the fact that a leader's vessel was with the onions.

It was a different vessel then last time. Last time the vessel seemed as fascinating as our onions. This vessel seemed rusted and bent up as if some creature had took it in its great maw and bit down on it before throwing it back to the ground. I would have been surprised if this piece of junk could fly. Yet this vessel alone had caused a stroke of fear to overcome me.

We stopped at the edge of the valley, looking over this shocking discovery. The pikmin down below hadn't noticed us yet. The more I stayed gazing at this improbability the more I wanted to leave and take everyone with me. But something told there was no way I could convince anyone to leave without an explanation.

A blue pikmin whispered anxiously," What should we do?"

"We should talk to them."

"But…"

"We are pikmin too. They will befriend us."

As everyone chattered around me my eyes remained fixed on the vessel. My breaths became shallow and my mind swirled with possibilities. Possibilities that needed to be answered. Hesitating, I shouted out to the pikmin below, "Where is the leader?"

All the pikmin in the valley below looked upward at us. When they saw me their stems stiffened in alarm. A red pikmin beside me, the same one I had talked to two days ago quickly said, "Don't worry this mushroom pikmin along with the other are with us. You have no need to fear them."

A yellow pikmin in the valley shouted up to us, "Where have you come from?"

"You still haven't answered my question," I yelled back. "Where is the leader?"

The yellow pikmin cautiously approached the foot of the valley before gazing back up to us, "You mean _leaders_."

"What?" The red pikmin said in surprise.

"There are two leaders," the yellow pikmin continued. "The red leader and the blue leader."

"Red n' Blue!" Chorused the pikmin in the valley below.

"Where are these _leaders_," I pressed again.

"They are exploring in a cave," A yellow explained, "looking for treasure."

Probably to fix up their rusted space ship. "A cave, underground?" The red pikmin asked.

"Indeed, have you not ventured underground before?"

My mind was boiling with visions, possibilities, fear. The red pikmin replied, "No, I did not think it was possible."

"How long have they been here?" I asked, my was voice cracking when I said it.

The yellow pikmin looked at his friends for a confirmation. He whispered, they nodded, and then he looked back up. "This is their six day."

When he said this my eye caught something that inhaled my attention. I squinted my eyes to see if it was true, and it was. Standing among the pikmin were purple pikmin. They didn't resemble me any bit besides our colour. No, they were plump as a ripe berry, and had a leaf, bud or flower not a mushroom. The flowers were pink in colour, but what difference was that? How could there be two pikmin of the same colour and not look the same. Was I not even a pikmin any more?

_What was I?_

"The leaders," I said to the yellow pikmin. "What do you do for them?"

"Exactly what pikmin are supposed to do," the yellow answered curtly.

"Then they haven't changed at all, have they?"

"Why should they change their ways?"

"Shouldn't you all know," I muttered sorely. I turned to our group and said to them, "It is going to be dark soon. We can make a bit more ground and get away from here."

"Why?"

A blue pikmin had said this; I turned around to face him and gave a tired look. "Listen…" I began.

"I see no reason to leave," The blue stubbornly crossed his arms. "This is where we belong; I want no more part in whatever you're planning."

"Planning!? This is not…"

"We've heard you muttering in your sleep, and the other guy too." He gestured to the other mushroom pikmin. "That mushroom, you're talking to it. _Communicating_ to that _thing_." His words were venomous.

"I would never think such a damn thing!" I was enraged; my mushroom was curled up behind me.

"You plan to take us back to it, so he can spore us again. Then we'll be like you, with a corrupted mind and a slave…"

My mushroom caused his head to be blown sideways. There was a loud crack and then his entire body spilled down onto the snow, his head at an awkward angle. I had killed him, it was easy, I didn't care, and I was just enraged.

As I stood there breathing heavily, no pikmin dared move. Except for the other mushroom pikmin, he moved beside me as if to defend me in case anyone attacked. "Go then," he said. "Go back to _your_ leader. Keep your opinions of us and yourselves. You know you long too, so do it!"

And so they did. One by one they moved down the slope of the valley, down to their onions and friends. Not one of them looked back, out of fear or indifference I was not sure. As soon as they were at the onions they greeted their fellow pikmin, soon forgetting about the dead blue pikmin. Dozens of pikmin die with the leader every day, what does one matter?

And then it was my turn to walk away. Slowly I walked, the other mushroom pikmin by my side, neither of us even thinking about looking back.

**Next chapters will be pretty intense I guarantee it. Reviews would be nice**


	13. Aurora

**OMG**

**Yeah kill me for the long delay, but if you do it will be even longer (wink)**

**Disclaimer: Pikmin do not own me. Period.**

Night came brutally fast upon us. The sun had vaporized in an instant, leaving the mushroom pikmin and me in a darker frigid world.

Yet we wouldn't stop now, we were close to the cyans, very close. Footprints littered the snow, tiny holes that zig-zagged here and there. Obviously pikmin. Somewhere around here, were the cyans. They probably would have made camp for the night, sleeping, possibly some on guard. That was the hard part, getting the white pikmin, up until now it had been a pushover.

_And it could still be all for nothing _

Yet hardly. Either way, the white dead or alive, cyan blood would still drench the snow.

And I honestly wouldn't care if my purple blood joined it.

The idea was raw revenge.

* * *

The sky was the deepest shade of blue I had ever seen, the radiant glow from the dazzle of stars kept it from being pitch black. It was the second time I had looked up into the sky again, the last time I had seen the sad sight of a familiar ship roar by, followed by three onions.

The mushroom pikmin was slightly ahead of me, trying to trace some pattern in the maze of footprints on the snow. He had seemed hesitant at first about rescuing the white pikmin, possibly because he would react like the others or just the fact that it was too dangerous. But I had told him though of the care the white pikmin had put into him when he had been unconscious and he seemed to take that into appreciation.

Would I risk my life for someone I didn't know?

Yes…

Yet that seemed like a lie.

I questioned myself no further though because the mushroom pikmin was gesturing towards me. I began to run towards him, but he quickly drew his hand towards his mouth, be quiet. Feeling foolish I lessened my pace and crept to the rock he was at.

"What is it?" I whispered.

The mushroom pikmin looked from behind the rock and pointed to my left. I squinted through the darkness and saw a lone figure standing in the snow. The world was colourless, yet, the clawed hands and feet, the whip like stem and the flinger in his hand, a cyan.

"We can go around…" The mushroom pikmin started.

"We take him out." I said coolly. I was already taking the flinger off of my shoulders; a pebble I had found a few hours earlier was cradled in the center of it. I glanced at the other mushroom pikmin, he simply shrugged.

I had very little experience with the flinger, but I knew the basics. It would be harder to just simply walk from behind and take him out, every time I stepped in the snow it crunched lightly.

The cyan pikmin remained motionless, almost a statue. He thought he was unseen…

I let the flinger swing loosely in my hand for a moment, and then came the rapid motion of my arm, the counter weight of the stone causing the flinger to fly upward, and then the release of the upper strap.

There was a faint whistle as the stone whirled towards the cyan. I couldn't see the stone, but there was a loud crack of bark as the stone hit a tree…

…_behind _the cyan.

The cyan spun around, towards the source of the noise, away from us. In a blur the other mushroom pikmin rushed out from the rock and sped towards the unaware cyan. I was quick to follow.

The cyan was still focused towards the tree but suddenly his body tensed and he started to turn around, aware of us.

Far too slowly, the mushroom pikmin already had his hands on his long budded stem, and with his right foot kicked the cyan in the back sending him sprawling to the ground. It wasn't the kick that finished him though; it was the tension of the bud being pulled away from the body. The stem between the two became taut…

…and ripped in half, erupting a spray of fluid that soaked the ground. Disturbingly the long stem in the mushroom pikmin's hand was thrashing a much as the cyan was in the snow. In a moment both though, both became still. The stem had almost seemed to try and strangle the mushroom pikmin, with a grunt he pulled it off and flung it to the ground. I eyed it for a moment; it seemed to twitch there, before turning back to the mushroom pikmin.

"One down"

"And how many more?"

"Quantity is superficial."

"Don't make stupid remarks," the mushroom pikmin let out a sigh. "We can't do this for every single cyan out there."

That was obvious, we had no idea how many cyans there would be. There were only two of us, a mere speck in the forest. How the hell would we be able to pull this off?

The mushroom pikmin looked down at the cyan again. "There are his tracks; they're fresher than the others if we follow them I guarantee we can find the cyans."

I looked at the footprints; they seemed to follow a direct route, not like the odd swirls of tracks we had seen earlier. This was our best chance and so we began to follow them.

* * *

The cyan camp was closer than either of us could have imagined. The guard should have been the obvious sign, but this made me feel stupid. One tree after the first guard the ground sloped steeply down to a vast circular valley, down in there was a single tree, not an ever green, but a single leafless tree that looked very young. Tied to that tree were several pikmin, not cyans, but of various colours. They were prisoners, and one of the prisoners seemed to glow brighter than the rest, its colour was white.

"I can see him, along with many others," I said.

"Have you seen the cyans though," the mushroom pikmin said flatly.

Though there were many pikmin tied to the tree, many more of the cyan colour surrounded it. Even more depressing was the cyan coloured onion next to the tree, ready to deliver inevitable reinforcements.

"What do we do?" The mushroom pikmin asked.

"We wait," I replied, not even glancing at him.

"For what?"

"I have no idea…"

The next ten minutes we waited, they turned out to be the most disturbing yet luckiest minutes of my life. We couldn't hear the cyans, but we could see them in the dim light of the gems. The mushroom pikmin and I didn't speak to each other, we just watched.

Here is what happened.

The cyans took two captive pikmin from the tree, ripping off their bounds. I couldn't make out their colours, but it seemed like a red and a blue.

They took these two away from the tree and forced them to stand still as all the cyans circled around. One cyan stepped out from the rest, apparently the leader and approached one of the pikmin.

I shivered, but it wasn't because of the cold.

The circle of cyans, judging by their gestures, seemed impatient; they pressed the lead cyan on, encouraging him to get some deed done.

The one cyan nodded in response and raised his clawed hand. A moment passed before he brought the claw down, tearing through the flesh on the pikmin's face. Rip. The scream was the only sound I heard.

All the other cyan's rushed in engulfing the two pikmin in the centre. I saw the second pikmin fall to the ground next to the first, but my view was soon blocked by a squirming mass of cyans. The knelt down, as if reaching to help the two pikmin up, yet they seemed to look like animals. I then realized there was a far more sick explanation for this.

They were eating them, dead or alive. These pikmin were cannibals.

"Sick bastards…" The mushroom pikmin said, his voice wavering.

Of all the ways I had seen my fellow pikmin die, this had to be the worst. It was unnatural, creatures that ate us was just instinct, this was simply wrong.

I tried to keep my eyes off of the horrendous scene carving itself into my eyes by observing the other things in the cyan's camp, I was now certainly grateful I couldn't hear anything.

Apart from the cyan onion and the small tree, the only things that attracted my attention were four huge metallic objects that were placed in the four corners of the camp. They were alien in appearance and the closest thing I could relate them to were the metallic treasures that the leader had collected on his first visit. This could be the reason why the leader had returned, to collect more. Maybe he would come here to claim these objects and wipe out the cyans for us.

But from the scene below it was obvious that we couldn't wait at all. It would be luck if the white survived until morning.

"They've finished," the mushroom pikmin's voice drifted through my thoughts.

I looked back towards the knot of cyans, they had left nothing behind, the red and blue pikmin had never even been there for all they cared. We weren't even pikmin in their eyes, we were all food. They didn't even look like pikmin to me anymore. Even though their animal like actions had evaporated and they looked "normal" again.

Appearances can be deceiving.

"What if they're not finished yet?" The mushroom pikmin asked.

I glanced in fear towards the white pikmin as a burst of frustration erupted inside of me like a bomb rock. Everything that had failed to truly come to me before came crashing down, everything was against us; time, numbers…

That is when the sky blazed with an aura of colour.

Everyone in the valley looked up in wonder as an amazing spectacle formed above us. It stretched across the sky, its immensity made it look as big as the world itself. Glowing veils of light swooped and arched across the sky. Scorched vermillion dove and trembled under a dazzle of azure. This wonder was unnamable, it outshined everything, all the gems in the sky seemed to dim under this burst of colour.

The cyans seemed to be attracted to the sky now; they reached their arms up excitedly and jumped up and down. It was apparent they had seen this before; it was if they were expecting it all along. The sky seemed to be calling to them.

And fortunately for us, they would answer.

In a trance like movement they all moved towards their onion, and one by one they began to climb up one of the three stems, until they all disappeared into the main body of it. Shortly after the petals topping the onion began to rotate and it began to rise into the air. A warm wave of hope washed over me as I watched the onion rise into the blooming explosions of gold, violet and green. It was a mere speck against a brilliant backdrop, powerless, just as I had felt a few moments before.

"Let's get those pikmin," I said through the first smile I had had in a while.

"Wait," The mushroom pikmin interrupted. "You think the cyans were stupid enough to not post guards?" He pointed towards the tree.

The spectrum of light above us made the entire area much brighter, and I could clearly see six cyan pikmin surrounding the tree. Each of them had a sharpened stick in their hand.

"It's just six now." I said.

"We're two," The mushroom pikmin replied coolly.

"Yes, but the two of us have a lot more options…" I began with a grin.

And then the two of us began to devise a plan. One that would rescue all the pikmin down in the valley. My hopes were as high as they could be, and my confidence reigned as the sky continued to dance above us.

* * *

I crouched as low as I could as I made my way down the slope of the valley, alone. The flinger was in my hand again, and in there was another stone. The ground leveled out beneath me, I was now on even ground with the six cyans, who were still unaware of my presence.

Swiftly I ran to my first goal, one of the four metallic treasures surrounding the camp. This one seemed to have a part that was made out of a unique transparent material, it looked fragile. I could easily be seen from it, so I went to the side of the treasure that was un-transparent. Prismatic rainbows glazed off the metallic substance from the sky above, almost hurting my eyes.

Checkpoint.

I looked out from behind my hiding place towards the first cyan guard, my target. For some reason I felt much more confident with the flinger than before and I had a much stronger feeling that I would hit.

The feeling proved correct.

A sharp swing of my arm sent the stone hurtling towards the cyan. My intake of breath was released when I realized my "fling" was successful. With a faint crack it hit the cyan square in the chest and sent him collapsing to the ground.

The other cyans responses were instantaneous; they all moved towards their fallen comrade, their long stems were curved with alert. As they assisted him, one of the cyans looked in my direction.

My intake of breath was back as I crouched back into the shadows of my hiding place…

…Only to meet the blunt end of a stick aimed at my face.

The blow sent me sprawling to the ground. A salty taste began to pollute my mouth as I coughed out a glob of fluid. Standing triumphant above me was a flowered cyan, the sharpened stick cradled in his clawed hands.

"I thought you were supposed to use the other end," I said bitterly as I stood up.

The cyan simply smiled. The spectacle in the sky above us reflected off of his skin. He wasn't cyan anymore; he was a blend of powerful orange tinted with a pale pink. The pikmin let me get up before a crack of his stem sent me to the ground again.

I winced in pain as I felt the long gash that stretched diagonal from my shoulder to my thigh. I was on my back so I had a direct view of looping veils of blue; I looked to my side and saw that my arms were blue as well. I gazed to my other side and saw that the flinger was half buried in the snow a few feet away from me, but it seemed like a mile.

Three other pikmin appeared above me as well. Same in appearance as the first, yet one was indigo, another fuchsia, and the final was a vivid green. Each of them also had a rather sharp stick in their hand.

"Shall we bring him to the rest?" One of the pikmin said.

"No," said the first one who had attacked me. He was the only one with a flower, and was apparently in charge.

"You know the rules…"

"Rules," the pikmin snorted with displeasure. He waved a red hand over me. "As far as they know, this guy doesn't exist."

The other pikmin was a shade of blue as he simply shrugged, still disagreeing with the lead pikmin. Said pikmin flared orange as he raised his stick up in the air, this time the sharp end was certainly aimed at me.

A pause, a brief beat of hesitation, as the pikmin glanced up his eyes flinching with disbelief.

Another beat.

And then the dull thump as _another_ sharp stick came out of _nowhere_ and embedded itself into the pikmin's left shoulder. Saffron fluid sloshed out as the pikmin tried to pull out the stick from his shoulder. It was my turn to act though, and with a kicked of my legs the pikmin fell forward. Such motion caused the stick to thrust out his back in another spray of rainbow fluid. A spasm of movement came from his arms before he went limp.

By the time I looked up I could see a burst of colourful pikmin fighting one another. The long stems trademark to the cyans whipped out from the middle of the fray and they were most certainly not cyan. Squinting harder I could make out the mushroom pikmin, than a red, than a…

White.

I could see him in the mix of combat, dodging a well aimed stick that seemed to not be held by anyone in particular.

And as soon as it had begun it was all over. A wave of success was all that was on my mind. We had done the impossible, against impossible odds. Five pikmin stood in front of me and none of them had the appearance of a cyan.

The mushroom pikmin walked up to me and smiled. "It worked better than any of us could ever expect."

"The other two guards?" I asked.

The mushroom pikmin held up a stick, the other one was buried in the shoulder of the cyan at my feet.

"That's the last time I let those bastards beat me up," I sighed.

Another pikmin spoke up from behind us. "We'd like to thank you and all, but can we leave this area now?"

"The cyan's will come back by morning, it is best we get as far away as we can," Another said.

"Nothing we can salvage?" I asked my fellow mushroom pikmin.

"Just the sticks, nothing else."

"Okay, grab a stick and let's get out of here." The other pikmin nodded in agreement.

I ripped the one that was sticking out of the cyan's shoulder and wiped the fluid off onto the snow.

The mushroom pikmin took the lead and began the ascent up the curved slopes of the valley. I stepped behind and waited for the one pikmin I wanted to see most…

…the white pikmin brought up the rear. He certainly looked like a mess, his stem was crooked and his eyes seemed dull. The dullness went away though when he noticed me.

I smiled at him and then looked up into the sky. The vibrant arcs of colours continued to swoop up and down, dipping and almost reaching us, almost…

"It looks beautiful doesn't it," the white pikmin said.

"Yes, it most certainly does."

**Looking forward to some "smashing" feedback.**


	14. Blur

**Dial F, for fast update! Woot!**

**Did you honestly think I was going to let a wonderful group of people like you down? ... Oh...**

**Disclaimer: If V Rex owned Pikmin, then Pikmin Three would be out by now...**

The sky was black again, the spectacle of lights having long died away. Though it had been beautiful, I was happy to exchange it for the successful events that had happened tonight.

"I really can't thank you enough, I really can't," those same words came at me again and again. Not only from the white pikmin, but also from the four other pikmin. The other mushroom pikmin and I tried to be modest, but there was simply nothing to be modest about.

"We got lucky," I said to the white pikmin repeatedly. That part was true, if most of the cyans hadn't left, the rescue would have been impossible.

"You still would have found a way," the white pikmin replied with a shrug.

"I doubt it," I said with a frown. "Not with that many cyans."

"Well you still would have tried; I know that's a guarantee."

"I can't take on a hundred cyans!"

"No there were two of you, that's fifty cyans apiece. And secondly I said _tried_."

"You think I'm stupid enough to take on even fifty cyans!?"

"Think of it more like 'brave enough'." The white pikmin said with a smile.

"Stupidly brave," I muttered. "Now _there's_ something I've had enough of."

"Hopefully we won't have to worry about anything anymore." The white pikmin thought for a moment, "What happened to the rest of our group?"

I had to stop myself from halting abruptly. "They…they fled when they heard of my insane idea." I said; I wasn't good at making everything up on the spot.

"I can understand that," admitted the white pikmin.

"They probably didn't like the idea of being 'stupidly brave'."

The white pikmin nodded and smiled.

* * *

The rest of the night went without incident, we spent it all traveling and didn't encounter an enemy once. The other cyan's may or may not have known by now, but either way I didn't seem to care, maybe because the constant chatter between me and the white pikmin was all about things that just didn't matter.

By morning, our cautiousness had drifted further away and we finally allowed ourselves to rest. Finding shelter under a vast evergreen tree we stopped there, and one by one, we all fell asleep.

* * *

_It isn't over yet…_

It's as finished as it can be

_You have no idea…_

You have no power

_I can kill you in an instant_

Try me

"Wake up!"

I stumbled out of another dream laced sleep and looked through blurry eyes at the mushroom pikmin shaking me awake.

I gazed at him groggily, "What's the matter?" I yawned without concern; a feeling of indifference had come over me since the rescue.

"I needed to talk to you in private," the mushroom pikmin. "That's why I had to wake you."

"Is it important?" I asked impatiently.

"It's about the leaders," the mushroom pikmin said. "Did you tell the white pikmin?"

"No, it had never crossed my mind," I lied. Gone was the indifference, I was beginning to feel uneasy about where this conversation was going.

"Well listen, these pikmin _will_ act like the others," the mushroom pikmin said. "If they hear about it, we're doomed."

"The white pikmin would never do it," my confidence was high in my friend. I wish I could say the same with the others; I had rescued them after all, right?

"From what I've seen we need to expect the unexpected," the mushroom pikmin pressed on urgently. "From everyone, including your friend."

"We've done a lot of things for each other; he's not simply going to…"

"The leader has done a lot for him as well."

"The leader is a figment of his past," I argued.

"It doesn't matter, I just urge you to keep this in between me and you."

I nodded, but my mind was still in doubt. I felt uncomfortable about keeping secrets from my friends, but maybe it was for the better.

"You still seem hesitant," the mushroom pikmin noted.

"It's not that," I shrugged. "Have you, ah, had any dreams lately?"

The mushroom pikmin seemed to think for a moment. "No, nothing at all."

* * *

Walking.

And more walking.

All seven of us pikmin had been traveling all afternoon. We didn't bother to stop as some pikmin were still afraid of the cyans and the fact that they might catch up. Yet I didn't feel restless anymore, I wanted to sit down and relax for a bit. Breathe in the crisp cool air, and let flakes of snow melt on my body.

"This forest seems endless," The white pikmin said to me as he surveyed the area around him.

"Even with those eyes you can't see an exit?" I asked in my developing good natured tone.

"Just lots and lots of trees."

"Any predators?"

"No, surprisingly nothing at all," the white pikmin said with a whisper of concern. He seemed to not like the fact that predators were absent from our area.

"I thought I heard some last night," A yellow pikmin spoke up from behind us, his yellow ears flapping in the light breeze.

"You could hear snow falling a mile away with those things," a red said.

The yellow pikmin chuckled. "It is definitely a pain to get to sleep at night, I mean all the noise just drives you crazy!"

This time we all laughed, even the other mushroom pikmin who had kept the same concerned look the entire journey had a smile twitch across his face. When I looked at him, it reminded me of myself back in the desert, so long ago…

"Hey, look up ahead!" a blue shouted. "It's like the ground suddenly ends…"

Indeed the endless row of trees abruptly stopped and we were suddenly at the edge of a vast cliff. One by one we all walked to the edge and looked down. I expected to see…nothing, just an endless fall, but below us bloomed the cone shaped tops of evergreen trees. The forest certainly continued, but the only thing between us and it was a vast cliff, and that presented a problem. The cliff was covered in snow, and some parts seemed safe enough to slide down, but at other parts the rocks from underneath jutted out like scars. It would not be easy.

A strong wind buffeted us, so we had to raise our voices to speak. "If we find a way to descend down this cliff, than we will lose the cyans for sure!" A red shouted.

"No, way it's too dangerous," the other mushroom pikmin replied. "Besides we probably lost the cyans already!"

"We won't get down there alive," the white pikmin muttered to me.

"We'll find a way," I replied slyly, the white pikmin chuckled at this. I then spoke to the rest of our group, "I don't see the sudden need to get down there right away. I say we go left and follow the edge and see if there is a safer route."

"Definitely," said the yellow in agreement. Everyone else nodded their heads and stems as well. The other mushroom pikmin gazed left, trying to see what lay before us, as if something was bothering him. He then simply shrugged and began to lead the way.

* * *

"I'm afraid of heights," the white pikmin said to me as we continued to travel. "Thanks for the idea."

"I can see why. After all you are the lightest one here and the wind might blow you off…"

The white pikmin laughed but stepped a bit father away from the edge. Personally I found the view breathtaking; therefore I walked as close to the edge as I possibly could.

A red pikmin in front of me was even more daring; he did a half flip and landed on his hands, teetering over the precipice. He then walked on his hands along the edge, almost, but never fully, slipping on the snow and ice.

"Come on," the other red pikmin said to him. "The last thing we need is another one of us dead."

_Last thing…_

"You could never expect me to do that," the white pikmin said to me. I didn't really seem to hear them though…

_You'll want to do…_

"You okay?" the white pikmin said. His voice echoed in my head, as I lost my sense of balance and fell to the ground.

_The world is not what it seems…_

This can't be happening.

"Hey, help me!"

"The same is happening to the other mushroom pikmin!" At least that's what I thought I heard…

My vision was foggy but I could see the other mushroom pikmin thrashing on the ground ahead of me. My mind was barely working and only one emotion was pulsing from my feet to my stem.

Fear.

_Why don't you…_

"Get away from me…" I managed to say.

_Just simply give up?_

"No, you're going to be okay," the white pikmin said hastily, yet he was as scared as I.

"I can't control myself…" I said. My stem began to thrash from behind me…

_Now it's all over…_

"Mushroom pikmin!" The cry came out from another one of the pikmin.

"I'm going to get you out of here…" the white pikmin said. He tried to grab my arm, but my arm pushed him away…yet I was doing nothing.

It was controlling me.

"Just go!" I choked out. I started to lose consciousness.

"No!"

This time it was my mushroom that came up to slam into the white pikmin. He was blown back by the hit, blown back to the edge of the cliff…

"No…" This time it was me who shouted it. I found the strength to push back the Mushroom's grasp on me and began to run towards the white pikmin, towards the edge…

Glimpses of chaos were all around me. Mushroom pikmin had erupted from the forest and were attacking our small group. I thought I could see the yellow pikmin but I wasn't sure…

Then there was the white pikmin, ahead of me. Teetering at the precipice and then suddenly over…

…and falling.

I resisted another pull form the Mushroom and then suddenly I was over the edge as well. The world whirled around me as I plummeted down, down…

Down until a burst of pain exploded in the back of my head like a bomb rock, and everything slid away; the Mushroom, the white pikmin, and hope itself…

**Might seemed rushed and short, but I meant to do that, give the false sense of paradise then a big twist at the end. It keeps the pace upbeat ya know?**

**Feedback is smashing, as always**


	15. Impulse

**Chapter 15, probably the most important chapter so far, if not in the entire fic...**

**Disclaimer: I don't care...**

**Impulse**

Ever so slowly, I come into consciousness...

_I'm afraid you're still alive_

The sinister tone of the Mushroom's voice, greets me with these alarming words. I shake my head to try and get the echoes to dissipate. It speaks again though…

_Fate has played a sick twist on your life_

"Bastard," I found myself with enough energy to mutter that one word. One by one my other senses return as well, and I realize that I am half buried in a snow bank…

_This is where it ends_

I slowly open my eyes and looked around, It is nowhere in sight. Cautiously I stand up and turned around to come face to face with a solid wall of rock. I look up and see that this "wall' slopes steeply upward, until it seems to scrape the top of the bleak, clouded sky above me.

That's right, the cliff…the fall…I was at the bottom and It was at the top. I was safe…

_Look to your left again…_

Curiosity gets the better of me and, indeed, I look to my left…

To _see_

That's…this can't be true…

It's impossible

I blink multiple times, but it's still there. The body of the white pikmin is spread out on the snow. It's face up, so I can see his eyes…dull, lifeless. His limbs lie at impossible angles, maybe because this whole thing is impossible, it just can't be happening.

I slowly move towards the white pikmin, almost swimming through the snow with slow, delicate movements. Each step gives me a small a small tinge of confirmation towards an already stated fact. He's gone…

The Mushroom killed him. A brutal agonizing fall, I could picture it in my head, the white pikmin violently smashing against each rock, not quite dead yet, as he continued to drop…

It wasn't me who put the pictures in my head though, it was the Mushroom.

The sudden urge comes to shout at the It, to climb up there and kill It, this murderer of all my friends, all that I have…

But it wasn't really the Mushroom that killed him at all. The Mushroom wasn't really involved.

I begin to narrow down the ideas. Chiseling at it, in the end there's only one entity left to blame. Just one, single being.

Me

I killed him

My friend

My entire past

In the end I convince myself that it was me, because there is no remorse when you blame others.

I convince myself, that I could have tried harder.

That I could have _resisted_.

That I've failed.

That it was only me, all me. My fault, my fall, my spiral back down into the real world.

That, this real world, is the last place I want to be.

And in the end, all that's left is simply me and the body of a friend. Around us the snow continues to fall softly, unaware, indifferent of what is happening here on the ground.

* * *

Time passes; mentally and physically drained, I have no thought of going anywhere. I stare at the body, wanting to leave but finding myself incapable of doing so. I want something to just happen, something that will change everything.

Something does.

The cry of another pikmin erupts into the silent aura around me. Tiredly I slowly look around, searching for what I hope to be an ally.

At the edge of the tree line, where the forest starts again, I see him, the other mushroom pikmin. He seems to be kneeling in the snow.

I blink multiple times, to see if my ally is really there.

He is.

But something's wrong, he seems wounded, oddly hunched. As I begin to approach him I notice the problem.

A stick juts out both ends of his body. His hands still grip the front side, soaked with the constant spurting of fluid. His breathing has an aura of rasping in it. And with a cough a glob of coagulated fluid slips out of his mouth. It's dark purple in colour with veins of black, and gradually it trickles down his chin.

I look around for some kind of enemy, a cyan, another mushroom pikmin, yet no one is around except me.

Another realization.

The mushroom pikmin's hands gripped the stick as if he were…

He did this to himself, he is responsible.

For his own death.

But not until…

I look at the mushroom pikmin and slowly his eyes come to meet mine. His eyes express what exactly he's been through for the past few days.

Inhale. Exhale.

"I couldn't go on," He manages to say. "No pikmin can…it was just too much…_It_ kept telling me…horrible things…"

Exhale.

Inhale.

Followed by a scream, so sudden and unexpected it causes me to physically step back.

Where I once stood, the mushroom pikmin's body suddenly now lies, facedown, instead. The stick juts out of his back straight up, almost to my height. The fluid on it is almost a thick black colour.

Without him, without any of them…how am _I _supposed to go on?

I look all around me, taking a full circle. The cliff; and then trees and snow as far as I can see. Nothing offers shelter, nothing offers warmth, nothing offers food, and nothing offers…simply…anything.

Besides the mushrooms pikmin another lies another stick, almost as if in mocking coincidence.

I pick it up; the weight of it feels comforting. I look at the sharpened end in almost anxiousness.

I can't

_But what else CAN you do?_

Images in my mind flash by; everything that's happened in my life is expressed to its full gruesome potential…

What good is left?

I'm almost unaware of the sharp end of the stick prodding lightly against my waist, where the skin is soft…

Another look around me. Nothing, no one to help me…no one to stop me…

Finally, after another eternity has seemed to pass, I make my hands move, a jabbing motion…

_And all of you becomes nothing at all_

The blow leaves me breathless, a hard hit to myself. I suddenly feel dizzy. With glazed eyes I look up and see the sun, almost white in the crisp blue sky. It shines dimly through a circular hole of a large cloud. I let it's image burn into my eyes, pushing away all the bad things…

I look down after; the spear is still pierced into my body, a loop of fluid forming around it. My hands still grasp the end, and weakly I let go. The stick follows suite, slipping out of the wound and falling into the snow. It's almost frustrating to see it lying there.

I can't even kill myself.

I need to push it in deeper, push it in until it burst out of the other end, and keep pushing…then it will all end…then there will be nothing to worry about…

_Come on_

The stick is in my hands again, it's all going to work this time…it's all going to go right this time…

Pause

I'm hesitating. Why? I _want_ it to end, this is the only way, and I want myself to do it. I can't think of any other way I want it to happen…

I _want_ to die

I…can't

Yes I can. What's left for me here?

"I can't"

Does it have to end like this?

_How else can it end?_

There has to be something better, why can't there be? But the fact is, no matter how many times I've convinced myself that, it's always failed. There is nothing better.

"Come on! Come on!" I was shouting to myself, convincing myself to end this life.

"COME ON!"

And then the stick falls from my hands, and I collapse onto the snow with it. Pathetically sobbing, my cries are muffled by the snow.

What can I do now?

Where can I go?

I raise my head up and out of the snow. The body of the other mushroom pikmin lies nearby, it's pupiless eyes staring into my own.

I could have been like him, right now. Just a body, nothing else. I don't want that anymore though. I simply want someone to talk to now…

Because other than that, I have no idea what I want…

I break into sobs again, but manage to not fall into the snow. Exhausted and confused, I stagger to the nearest tree trunk and sit against it. My stem droops down and I clutch it with both my hands, my mushroom pressing against my chest. My whimpers are the only thing that can be heard for a long time…

* * *

I finally decide to walk away. Not because I'm afraid, it's to see if I _can_.

I pass the mushroom pikmin's body, beside it the stick lies there, sourly tempting…

Then there's the white pikmin's body. I don't want to look. I do anyways. I'll do something for both bodies later on, but now I just…can't.

I'm now passed the bodies, I can leave everything behind, and it's what I want.

I'll have to come back though…

* * *

Over a frozen stream and through a hollowed out log, the forest stretches on. There isn't any creatures though. I've been pretty lucky to not have encountered any.

I'll have to eat something soon though. I can't remember the last time I ate nectar. The taste of the sweet substance is now far beyond the grasp of any of my senses.

Around another tree…

And that's when I see the flower…

A beautiful blue colour, mirroring the perfect sky above. In the centre of four petals is a golden circle, just like the sun. It sits there; stem less, in the middle of three trees.

_That flower means death for you_

I ponder for a moment, and then I know It is wrong. The flower is far from death, the flower means new life…

And I am attracted to it, the flower seems so appealing. It is an escape. I want to get closer…

"And then I was elevated into a cloudless sky…"

I find myself walking towards it, every step takes me closer.

"The ground growing smaller, more powerless beneath me..."

I'm now at the point where snow meets petal. With one step I make my decision, the hesitation is not strong at all.

"As I, myself go higher and higher…"

I now stand in the centre the golden circle beneath me. My legs seem to sink in…

"Until I find myself staring at the sun…"

With a whoosh, the petals snap upward, closing above me. I don't care though; I want it all to happen.

"And at rebirth"

**It's not finished. Reviews are appreciated, thanx**


	16. Full Circle

**IMPORTANT READ THIS Good and bad stuff**

**Alright here it is. Actually this only half of what chapter 16 was supposed to be, but a lot has been added, tihs has been possibly the most constantly revised chapter in the entire fic. **

**Also a big thanks goes out to uhyeahitsteamdark, how Beta'd this chapter and will (hopefully) continue to Beta. **

**Here's the bad, uh the format got messed up for the revised document. So the old docements up now (without uhyeahitsteamdark's changes) but the revised one will be up shortly, his hard work cannot go to waste. Again thank you**

**And a big thanks to YOU guys, the readers. Who have waited ever so patiently, but are still going to kill me for killing off the white pikmin.**

**Disclaimer: I will own Pimkin 3 at E3...or not**

I had no idea to describe where I was, I had no idea how long I was there…

A pikmin only spends two seconds in these flowers from what I've seen, but this felt like an…eternity.

I was floating in infinity, anything of direction, any sense of up or down is lost.

I can see my purple body, and feel the mushroom still atop my head. I am still a mushroom pikmin.

I won't be for long.

As I float there, I can hear a rushing noise. I look around…of course, blackness. Nothing at all.

And then it hits me, an invisible wall, it passes through me, as if I am transparent. But I still double over in pain.

A second blow comes, this time something startling happens.

It hits me and my arm suddenly blows away with it, tiny dust particles in a desert. I feel every bit of it, as if it was real.

I try to scream but before that another blow hits me, and my mushroom dissolves.

And then another…

And another…

And another…

The pain is there; my body feels like it is being flayed alive. I scream, but I can't hear myself, my mouth is gone.

I am still there though, and I am able to view what happens next.

The pieces of my body form in front of me into a swirling spherical mass. I want it to come back to me, I want to reach out and grab it. It's impossible though.

The mass glows a deep purple, the colour of my body, but in the middle of it a blue light is beginning to form. It glows brighter and brighter, a silent crescendo, and with it's climax it burst out in a sudden rush of energy. The purple particles are driven away by the sapphire force. They disintegrate in the space around me. What's left is the throbbing pulse of blue energy, and with a whirl this energy comes rushing towards me.

I do the one thing that feels safe.

I close my eyes and wait.

* * *

When I come back to being, I can already feel the change, the difference.

I'm stuck, I can't move, I want to see this change. My body is trapped in…dirt.

_Yet, my body loved it. It absorbed energy from the dirt; it kept my body in this state. It seemed satisfied down here. If my body was satisfied, then I guess I should be too…_

I remembered then…this is how I was born. It was the same process; I was a tiny seedling, just like the beginning.

A full circle.

With one problem.

I cannot be pulled out, there is no one around, and I'm by myself.

Alone.

I struggle slightly, but of course it is futile, my body is firmly planted into the ground. I can feel only one part of my body above ground, my stem and mushro…no leaf.

In moments though it transforms into a bud.

And, after that into a flower.

All the while I ponder on the situation; unfortunately it is obvious I cannot do anything about it. My stem slumps slightly at the news, I am trapped.

I'll have to wait…but wait for what. I am in a vast forest alone; the pikmin that have been with me may not even be alive anymore. I am a singular powerless being.

* * *

I feel the days pass with my stem; cold days, colder nights. Sunny days with solar energy drenching my lead/bud or flower (As the cycle goes), and freezing blizzards that gnaws numbly at my stem, sending a chill down my entire body.

All the while my inner feelings slowly change…

After all I've been through, the desert, the Mushrooms, the cold, the cyans, what I have sought for was peace. An end to it all.

And as I rest in the snow, I slowly begin to realize that this may be the place to do it.

I am left undisturbed, at peace. Isolated, yet safe. Stuck here, yet my body intact.

In reality, I feel the best I've felt in ages. I am renewed, reborn, something fresh. It's something I don't think any Pikmin comes across much in a lifetime.

My bud for the hundredth time changes into a flower and I remember back into my foggy past when I was a blue…and how I was jealous of all the pikmin who had a flower or even a bud. I just had a tiny leaf, jealous of how some of the pikmin were able to get flowers so easily. But after all this, I truly feel that I deserve it, a great reward after all the turmoil.

Something I can finally be proud of.

Judging by my stem another day passes.

That's when it happens.

It feels midday, but the sun seems to be covered by clouds as I can't feel sliver of heat against the chill.

My stem droops slightly because of its absence…that's when something grabs it.

My body lets out a sudden jolt of panic and surprise. The intruder feels it too, and it's grip on my stem hesitates, before pulling harder.

I don't resist or fight back, but the snow does. I have been buried for a long time, causing multiple layers of frost to freezes over me.

The intruder struggles with it, it must be struggling hard. I can feel the strain on my head as well, as my flower and stem almost seem to tear off from me…

But then with a rush and a small fountain of snow, I pop out of the ground and am thrown into the air.

I've forgotten how good fresh air tastes. As soon as I am pulled from the permafrost I feel a rush of adrenaline. I feel weightless as I do several flips taking in the entire vastness of the world around me. Before gravity sets in…

And I plummet to the ground below.

The snow does little to cushion my fall, and I land with my limbs sprawled across the ground.

I seem to be a bit rusty…

With a soft groan I pull myself to my feet. Dazed but intact, I turn to face the intruder…

And come face to face with the Leader.

Only it's not THAT leader.

This one is different from what I remember.

Instead he's slightly taller, with a head the even odder shaped then the former leader, plus the light on top of his head is a light blue, not red.

I stare at him strangely, he mirrors my look.

And I remember another thing from my past. How that one pikmin had described the return of the leader…with a partner.

It seems obvious that this is said partner.

This one lacks the confidence of the other leader, he seems curious of me, but nervousness is biting at his side. He eyes his surroundings, as if he's looking for something that could explain the situation.

I also notice that there are no pikmin with him (besides me). He is alone, which is extremely rare for any leader, blue or red. I begin to look around too, to see if their might be anything, that could explain the "blue leader's" appearance.

"Hey anyone else here!" I shout. My voice echoes throughout the forest, rebounding off cavernous trees…Apparently not.

My voice though draws the Blue Leader's attention again. He looks my way again and stares at me with dull eyes. He seems tired, almost at the edge of exhaustion.

The sound of a shrill whistle emits through the air, emitting from Blue Leaders helmet. The sound sends a pulse through my body, and my stem goes rigid above my head, my flower's petals straight and taut.

It's been a long time since I've heard that.

Blue Leader gives a satisfied nod, and turns around and starts to jog away. I simply stand there, surprised that he can actually manage to run through the deep snow with such a bulky suit on.

Then again, he does look a lot more in shape then the original "Red Leader".

After a moment of running though he stops turns around and looks at me. His dumbfounded surprised face makes me almost want to wave at him.

"Yes I am right here buddy. Surprise?"

And then I remember…

"Ah…yes I'm supposed to follow you…" I let out a short chuckle to myself.

The Blue Leader looks at me thoughtfully, before letting out another blast of the whistle.

I remember the command from long ago…_Come…_

"Fat chance buddy…" I say to myself, I then turn around and start to slowly walk away. Before long a can hear a small noise behind me.

I turn to see the Blue Leader slowly following me. I chuckle at the irony of the situation before turning around to face the Blue Leader fully.

The Blue Leader is alone; it is only him and I. This peaks my curiosity but I pay no further attention to it.

The Blue Leader approaches me yet again, he is eyeing as if I was a danger. I guess I've been through too much to come across as the average blue pikmin. As he gets closer, he reaches out to touch me, his hand seems hesistant…

I playfully throw myself into the air, flipping over him, and landing behind him. The Blue Leader turns around sharply, ever alert. He gives a shake of his head, most likely in annoyance.

That's when the ground explodes between us.

I am thrown back by the force of it. Coughing snow out of my tiny mouth, I glance up through the spray to see a massive creature rise up from the ground between me and the Blue Leader. It's long, yet thin curving blue body is crested by a white head with sharp yellow eyes. Also on the head is a long orange beak, incredibly sharp…

I slowly back away in fear, as the creature continues to extend to its full height.

A loud _CAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH_ emits from the beaks, sending a chill down my body. I barely feel it though, I'm steaming with adrenaline.

I urge myself into a full force sprint, trying to get as much ground between me and the creature as possible. I don't get far though, as right behind me the ground sends out another explosion, throwing me back to the ground.

I look back to see the creature's beak, embedded in the snow, in the place were I was merely a second ago.

With little effort, the creature pulls it beaks back out of the ground. And with little pause sends them flying back down to me.

Out of desperation I roll to the side.

Another shockwave as the beak hits the ground right _beside_ me. Looking back I can see that my stem is still between the two open jaws of the creature.

I quickly pull it out of that space, just as the beak closes with a massive snap. My relief is barely shown through sheer terror.

The beak rises again, this time intent on finishing the job. My timing will have to perfect if I want any chance of living.

The beak never comes though.

Instead the shrill sound of a whistle fills my ears. Confused I look around to see the tiny form of the Blue Leader, waving his arms and continually blowing his whistle. _Attracting the creature's attention…_

It works, the creature turns it's massive snake like body around to face the Blue Leader. A let's out another loud _CAAAAAUUUGGGGHHH_.

I want to help the Blue Leader, return the favour, contradict everything the I've believed in my time as a mushroom pikmin. My instincts say no though.

And out of terror, I run deep into the forest. Away from the creature. Away from the Blue Leader. Never looking back.

**So the reason why this chapter took so long (besides laziness always a key) is uh well I wanted to incorporate Alex's and Kaen's idea into this chapter. I originally had something along the lines similar to that, but changed it, luckily Kaen put me back to my senses (The former idea with Louie was better from the start). **

**Also thanks to everyone else for their suggestions!**

**V**

**And now for a big announcement! Killer Raptor, Great Thumbs of Wisdom, and V Rex are currently producing a triple collab fic! Titled "Perspectives" (Actually it's something else, but sadly I forget. Effff...you...GameTalk!). It will deal with the wilder side of the distant planet, each chapter focusing on some creature (from the game or made by us) that all thrive in the same small ecosystem. Unfortunately said ecosystem has lost it's ability to support so many diverse creatures, so conflict is bound to arise.**


	17. Rush

**It's back...**

**Disclaimer: Seriously, why do people add these, for their word count? Fan fiction has the right for us to post these, we realized that when reading the guidelines (you DID read the guidelines didn't you? This is almost unnecessary, of course we know I don't own Pikmin, if I did I would be doing something far more productive.**

* * *

The sounds of the battle behind me still echo through the forest no matter how far I run, solidifying the guilt inside me. They grow fainter and fainter in the cool air, but they still seem to resonate clearly inside my head.

Finally I stop. Cold, out of breath, hungry and guilt stricken.

That Leader saves my life and I _run?_

But...

It does seem like a fair compensation, a Leader is a Leader after all, and they're guilty for a lot more things compared to me.

The conflicting thoughts grind in my head for a while, before the overwhelming physical needs slip subtly back into my mind.

I"m cold, so I need warmth

I'm hungry, so I need food.

I look around through the maze of trees, hoping the solution would appear in the vast white ground. Nothing at first seems to catch my eye, but then looking left I notice a clear reflection of the sun glinting off a shiny, mirror like surface.

Ice, slicked over a small stream that snaked through the woods.

Being a blue pikmin I was naturally inclined to head towards the water source, would there be any food there though? In this kind of weather it was rare to find anything edible anywhere. Still it was water, and although frozen, if anything was growing around it would be there. There may even be some aquatic plants growing under the surface, I would just have to break the frozen crust to get a hold of them.

My mind was whirring with possibilities, and it seemed like a wise decision to head towards the stream.

The snow had gotten quite deep, layer after layer had built up, each one mercilessly crushing the last. More than once I had to wave my arms wildly to keep balance and prevent myself from falling. The stream was quite close and should have been a short trip, but it ended up taking quite a long time. The sun had sneakily dipped lower in the sky when I finally reached the edge of the stream.

Frustrated and exhausted, I took my first step on to it's frozen surface...

...and slipped and fell.

My hands failed at saving my fall, and my head hit the ice...hard. Lights briefly flashed in my eyes. Groaning and cursing, I slowly got back to my feet fully aware of the potential danger.

Warily, I slowly shuffled towards the middle of the stream, almost slipping over twice. At the centre of the stream was a small stone jutting defiantly out of the frozen surface. I gratefully leaned on to that.

The stream was only frozen at the top just as I had thought. If I could break through that, I may be able to find something to eat down there. I could also use the current as a form of travel.

It paid off to be a blue pikmin.

I scanned the ice for any weak points, someplace where I could start. Nothing seemed to stand out though, it all seemed like one solid surface.

That's when I heard a noise to my right.

Looking down the stream, I noticed a cyan pikmin moving across. The noise was coming from a small pellet of crystallized nectar he was dragging with him. A small pouch is slung over the cyan's shoulder and falls to his waist.

Food...

And a chance for revenge.

The sick thoughts wormed their way into my head. These cyans, brutal, savage, to the point where eating their own kind is acceptable...

All of these thoughts gradually flow into one solid emotion...anger.

Forgetting the slippery surface I stand on, I swiftly move toward the cyan, his back is turned away from me. He doesn't sense my presence...yet.

I quickly shorten the distance between us, and I am almost ready to charge when the cyan pauses.

I stop too.

Neither of us move.

Then very slowly, the cyan pikmin's stem, crowned with a flower, slithers down into the pouch and pull out a small rock that's black with pulsing yellow veins.

A bomb rock.

There's another brief pause, then the cyan quickly spins around to face me, his momentum carrying his long stem behind him. With a quick twist of his head, the bomb rock is suddenly flying through the air...towards me.

I barely have time to react, but get just enough time to throw myself to the ground. I feel the air distort in the place where I just was, as the bomb rock whips past overhead...

I hear the sharp snap and hiss, as it lands on the ice.

And then feel a sudden burst heat as it explodes, shaking the ground. I hear a few loud cracks as the ice breaks behind me.

Looking back, I see the last of the flames die away, contrasting with the vast blue hole that has now appeared in the ice. A few stray ice chunks sway in the water.

Pretty impressive for a tiny shard of bomb rock.

And the cyan seemed to have a lot more of those.

He was looking at me with an almost disappointed look, as if he had expected something more dangerous and far bigger to be fighting with. It seemed that the cyan pikmin decided that using more bomb rocks on me would be a waste and better spared for other times, so his stem that had been dipping into his pouch a second time hesitated and then retracted.

Nevertheless we continued to face each other.

He swung his one leg up and planted it on the nectar pellet, giving me a taunting look. I slowly started approaching again making it seem as I was going to make the first move.

But I wasn't

Because unaware to the cyan...a mushroom pikmin was creeping up behind him. I had noticed him only moments before, but the cyan was still oblivious. I slowly watched this new challenger, but kept the focus on the cyan.

He suspected nothing.

I paused.

Then the mushroom pikmin sprang.

The cyan pikmin suddenly sensed it, but far too late.

And then I started running towards the fray, my eyes on the pellet.

The cyan was trying to turn, but the mushroom had already slammed into his back. If it wasn't for his clawed feet, he would be on the ground. Still the blow hurt, and the cyan was doubled over.

Before the mushroom pikmin could land another hit though, the cyan's stem snapped out and twisted itself around the mushroom pikmin's stem. With a grunt and some incredible strength, the cyan whipped his stem _and_ the mushroom pikmin over his head. His stem released, and the mushroom pikmin was suddenly flying towards me.

My momentum already carrying me towards the cyan, I could only continue to move forward. And as the mushroom pikmin slammed into the ice, his sprawled form still rushing towards me, I summoned the strength in my legs, and jumped over the mushroom pikmin.

While I was still in the air the cyan, with a simple kick of the leg, sent the nectar pellet sliding across the ice towards me as well. I landed, fortunately, still on my feet, then leapt up again, not over the pellet, but simply on top. My momentum continuously pushing me forward I then jumped from the pellet...

And crashed into the surprised cyan.

The impact sent us both into the ice. Normally I would be groaning from the impact, but the adrenaline made that obsolete and instead focused my attention to cyan's claws already trying to slash at me.

I twisted my body and the claws missed by inches. Both of us were still sprawled on the ice, and i grabbed the cyan's stem, it attempted to snake out of my grasp but I tugged it hard and moved the cyan closer to me...

Close enough to land a punch into the dazed cyan's face. I tried to keep his stem in my hands, as it seemed to cause the cyan the most pain but it finally managed to twist out. I had time to land another punch, and the cyan's face contorted in pain. I then attempted to stand up, but the cyan's stem swiped under my legs and sent me to the ground again.

The cyan gave me a quick kick in the gut to insure I stayed lying on the icy surface. He then attempted to stand up himself...

Only to have the mushroom pikmin once again tackle him from behind, sending the cyan back into the ice. This time the cyan's pouch flew open and bomb rock shards were sent skittering across the frozen surface.

I used this brief distraction to stand myself up again. The mushroom pikmin noticed this, and swung his stem at me. I ducked and the large mushroom flew over. I responded by sending my own stem and its razor sharp petals into the mushroom pikmins chest. A spray of fluid shot out, signaling a highly effective slash, and sent the mushroom pikmin sprawling backwards. I used this time to return my attention to the attemping-to-get-on-his-feet-again cyan pikmin, whose stem was once again sweeping at my feet. I managed to jump over this, so did the mushroom pikmin, who had quickly recovered from the chest wound. I barely managed to land without falling over.

Now all three of us were standing up. The cyan pikmin wasted no time and whipped his stem out at me, but I swiftly moved to the side and it hit the ice instead, while I tried to once again slash the mushroom pikmin with my flower, but merely manage to graze his side as he sent his fist into the cyan pikmin's gut, who would've been able to dodge had he not been wincing in pain as I dug my foot into his stem that had yet to raise itself from the ice.

The cyan pikmin replied to the mushroom pikmin's blow by scraping his claws across the mushroom pikmin's already wounded chest. The mushroom pikmin staggered back and I stepped forward, sending an uppercut into the cyan's jaw. I had stepped off his stem to do this, and it wasting no time in whipping me in the side. Yelping in pain, I had to step sideways to prevent the stem from wrapping around my arm. Doing so I managed to receive a mushroom straight in the face, which sent me staggering back. It felt like my face had punched to the back of my head and I struggled to keep upright.

This brief pause got me to focus my attention on something peculiar. All three of us had managed to move quite a bit down the frozen stream, and now up ahead I noticed the icy glint suddenly ended, not into the deep blue of unfrozen water, but into blank thin air...

The mushroom pikmin tried to hit me again, but the cyan pikmin came from the side and with one swift motion stabbed his claws into the mushroom pikmin's back. The mushroom pikmin led out a horrid screech, before he choked and vomited fluid out of sheer pain. The cyan pikmin retracted his claws, but the mushroom pikmin did not have time to recover as I stepped over the spilled fluid on the ice and got another swift punch on the mushroom pikmin. His weakening body was then kicked aside by the cyan pikmin, who now slashed his claws at my stomach. I moved backwards, his claws missing by inches.

Now the cyan started using his stem again, brandishing it like a whip. With this advantage, I could not even get close enough to the cyan pikmin to land a hit with out risking the cyan's stem and claws tearing through my skin. So I continued to back up, and I realized I was slowly approaching the end of the stream which just disappeared of the horizon.

But it wasn't actually the end, merely a frozen waterfall that plummeted down into the iced over surface of a small pond.

The pond was a long way down.

The cyan pikmin's plan was simple now. If I kept backing up I would tumble off the edge. If moved forward I would definitely be hit by the cyan's stem multiple times as it was now a mere blur in the air as he moved it so fast.

I was dangerously close to the edge of the waterfall when I decided to do something stupid.

I stopped moving, and thrust both of my arms out. Almost instantly, I felt searing pain as the stem lashed out and hit both of them. I kept my arms static though, and the momentum of the cyan's stem caused it to wrap around my arm multiple times. The cyan pikmin's eyes widened in surprise and he tried to tug his stem away, his eyes grew even more when I dived...

Not towards him.

But towards the waterfall.

The cyan pikmin was thrust off his feet as we both slid alarmingly fast towards the waterfall. Right before the ice dipped and fell, with me falling with it, I reached with the tips of my arms around the end of a stone that jutted out of the ice. I felt the rest of my body slide over the edge, but I held on, the strain in my arms already beginning to show.

The cyan pikmin had managed to get his stem untangled when I did this. But the momentum continued to send his body rushing towards the edge. He tried to reach the rock I was on with his arms, but I batted them away with my stem. I watched the cyan slide past me, a mix of panic and anger in his eyes. Then with one final scream, he slid over the edge and then fell...

But with one more trick left, for as the cyan pikmin plummeted through the air I saw his claws extend out his hands. And as he fell the cyan flipped his body so that he faced the frozen wall of the waterfall. With a burst of effort, he thrust his claws out and jammed then into the ice. A loud grinding sound echoed through the air as the cyan pikmin continued to fall, but it was apparent that his claws were definitely slowing him down. And finally about halfway down, the cyan pikmin came to a halt, his body heaving with exhaustion.

I was quite amazed about what he had managed to pull off, but the battle was over and I focused my energy on getting the rest of my body back over the edge. Before I could though another burst of pain pulsed through my arms.

The mushroom pikmin had staggered over to the cliff edge, fluid still draining out of his deep wounds and spilling onto my face. He raised his foot again and slammed it down on the rock, crushing my hand. The pain became unbearable, but I couldn't let go...

I couldn't...

The foot raised...

And fell...

The pain ripped through my arms again. I don't even remember letting go, suddenly I was just...falling.

I had no claws to save myself, I tried to get some friction by sliding my arms against the waterfall but got nothing. My mind calculated the possibilities and came up with one last desperate attempt.

I aimed for the cyan pikmin.

He looked up in surprise, and out of panic let go of the waterfall right before I hit him. Air rushing past me, I streamlined my body and caught up to him mid-air. He tried to keep away, swinging his claws wildly, but I stopped him with a kick in the face. I then tried to hook my arms around his, but my hit had sent him spinning wildly. Finally I waited for him to face me again. Then I grabbed around his chest and pulled myself forward, wrapping my arms behind his back I hung on tight.

We were both spinning and flipping wildly now, I couldn't make out the sky or the ground as everything was twisted and melded beyond comprehension. I could make out the cyan pikmin's stem though, it was snaking through the air, flapping wildly before managing to snag a rock sprouting out of the frozen waterfall.

I tightened my grip as the stem snapped tight and the cyan suddenly stopped, letting out a scream of immense pain as it happened. My arms felt like they were going to rip out of my sockets as I continued to hold on to the chest. The momentum of my body though caused me to slide down past the waist, down the legs until I could only grab onto the cyan pikmin's foot.

Pain was dully throbbing through my body but it was nothing compared to what the cyan pikmin was experiencing. His stem was holding us all up, and it was beginning to show, beads of fluid accumulated on tiny tears in the stem and were beginning to run down its length and over the cyan's face which was distorted in pain.

I looked past the cyan pikmin, and far up above I noticed the figure of the mushroom pikmin still standing there. And as I watched, I saw him casually kick two small objects off the edge of the waterfall. As they fell I got a clear view of them.

Black striped with yellow.

Two pieces of bomb rock shards.

I think I saw the mushroom pikmin smile.

I flattened my stem against my back as the bomb rocks race by. There's a long pause and I'm almost tempted to look down.

Silence.

And then the blast.

The heat of the explosion almost burns my back and I want to cover my ears but that would mean letting go. I see chunks of ice get propelled past us, shattering against the waterfall and then raining back down. One dagger of ice cuts my back as it falls and I wince.

Then anther chunk hits the cyan pikmin's stem and the rock it was holding on to. The rock snaps from its place in the waterfall and then we're both falling again.

I look down though and smile, for the explosion has shattered the ice and has left only the gaping blue of water underneath.

Perfect.

I twist my body into a perfect dive and then slice into the water. My blue body endures but almost regretfully accepts the freezing cold temperature. I spread out my arms to slow my descent and feel relaxed.

A moment later I hear the distorted sound of a splash as the cyan pikmin hits the water...

And starts to die.

I slowly watch him sink past me. He's twisting violently as if searching for some bubble of air, stirring his arms to try to reach the surface but he has clearly no idea how to swim.

And I just watch.

The cyan pikmin deserves it, his mouth has probably tasted pikmin flesh before. What a sick, twisted life they have. Drowning seems like such a suitable death, it is similar to getting eaten alive. Every moment feels like an eternity in both...

But now a contrasting feeling bubbles up. If the deaths are so similar, am I not like the cyan pikmin then...

They deserve it...

It's cold revenge, I have bigger things to deal with...I can still save him...

He tried to kill me...

We were all trying to kill each other. Primitively, like animals....

We're beyond that...

And while I'm still debating, I realize I'm already diving down, towards the cyan pikmin. Grasping his stem, I roughly pull him up with me and begin to head towards the surface.

I've killed before, all pikmin have, but not like this

The cyan gasps as we break the surface, and I begin to swim towards the edge of the pond. It's hard though, the cyan is heavy.

"Come on, help keep us above the surface, kick your legs," I instruct.

The cyan seems too busy gasping in the air to hear what I said, but after a few seconds he begins to kick, making it much easier.

When we make it to the edge of the pond, I toss the cyan pikmin onto the snow before lifting myself out. The cyan lays there limply, still gasping for breath. I give him a quick kick to get his attention. I want something in return.

"Where did you get that pellet? The one that you had?" I ask into the cyan's dazed face.

The cyan pikmin seems to have to think hard to get the answer, he continues to breath deeply. Finally a simple point of the cyan's arm shows me the direction I want to go. Not wanting to waste anymore time and quite hungry I headed started to head off in said direction.

Only after a few steps did the cyan pikmin's voice stop me.

"You're heading there alone?" He asked meekly.

"Yeah," I replied. "Does it matter?"

A brief chuckle interrupted by another gasp. "You're crazy, the puffstool has the more major food branches defended. You'll be captured."

"Puffstool?"

"That giant Mushroom that waddles around on two legs...it can spore us pikmin, make us it's slaves."

That seemed like a suitable name. "I've heard of it..."

"Well unless you've been living in a hole for the last few days, you may have noticed that this puffstool has gotten quite powerful. It's nexus now covers a large portion of the western woods."

"Nexus?"

"It has infected a lot of pikmin, the puffstool almost has a mini army. It is sustainable enough that it has saturated a couple of areas with spores. Even breathing in those areas could risk infection. The spores themselves have gotten more deadly too, a couple of animals have felt the effects. Spring's coming too, when that happens the puffstool can spread spores a lot easier and smother more areas...intoxicating them."

I interrupted, but took the information. "I've fought them before..."

"Yeah but if you go to this food source alone, they're going to capture you and infect you too, that's what happened to my group...I managed to get away though."

"Is there another place to get food?"

The cyan hesitated, so I approached.

"I do recall saving your life, what's that worth to you? You cannibalistic bastard," I spat.

The cyan stuttered, "You judge our entire colour based on a few...but yes I will take you to food."

"Alright then, get up. And let's go." I reached down to help him up.

The cyan pikmin hesitated again, as if he had betrayed someone. Almost resentfully he finally took my hand.

And we headed off. Him leading the way, I followed behind, aware that the woods had gotten a lot more dangerous.

* * *

**(Most run on sentences were down on purpose (experimental!))**

**Thanks for reading, drop a review...**

**Or don't...**

**Though I'd prefer if you did...**

**Though one always can't get what one desires...**


	18. Melt

**That was fast...**

**Enjoy**

Melt

"You know I could have killed you already."

I ignored the cyan pikmin, and just let him lead me through the forest. The sun had set, leaving the sky in a state of twilight.

"I mean it is really stupid of you to not bind my hands with anything. I might not be even leading you to the right place. We could be heading towards a trap."

I replied this time. "I trust you."

The cyan burst out laughing. "Trust _me!?_ Oh you are an idiot. You're letting me walk free right now. Or are you looking for a fight? Cause I must say you are quite good at it. Never mind that, because I must inquire, why do you trust me?"

"I saved your life"

The cyan's act of sarcasm and his mocking tone dropped for a second but quickly reformed. "Yes...but us being pikmin we get our lives saved everyday, it is a team effort you know. Do you? Or _have_ you been living under a hole?" Another burst of laughter.

I interrupted. "How much further?"

"Actually, we should almost be there now. Ah yes right at this tree up ahead." The cyan pointed to the location, I had no idea how he distinguished it, all the trees looked the same to me. "This shouldn't be necessary, all this hiding food, when spring comes, food will be more plentiful. You can feel the change in the air now slightly."

The air did seem to lack it's freezing bite. Looks like I wouldn't have to worry about freezing to death.

The cyan continued talking, though I don't think he ever stopped. "...The snow also feels a bit more...crunchier, you know?" He approached the base of the tree, where the roots started digging into the earth and snow.

"I thought you said this puffstool was going to be more of a threat in spring?", I inquired.

"Indeed, it is worse, quite bad for one puffstool honestly. Usually they team and start an infection, this one has done one heck of a solo effort. It's managed to scare a lot of the creatures away...usually this forest is laced with them. Some of the creatures that remain show early signs of infection. But it's mainly the pikmin the puffstool is after." The cyan pikmin was digging through the snow, finally he found a small gap between the roots and the frozen ground. Reaching in there he pulled out a chunk of pellet. "Here you go." He pulled out one for himself and raised it in a mock toast. "For saving my life." He snickered.

It was my turn for a dry joke. "I half expected to find dead pikmin bodies in there..."

The cyan pikmin turned to me and for once he actually seemed serious. "You're talking about the cannibalistic cyans aren't you?" He said darkly.

"I thought I was talking about cyan pikmin in general," was my glacial reply.

"Not all of us are cannibals. The group I was with, we were a small band of cyan's who _disapproved_ of that practice."

"So...not all of you are sick twisted killers?"

"No!" The cyan was now yelling. "We hate them as much as you do! We know it's wrong, but it's a natural part of our us. Do you realize how hard it is to ignore instinct?! Even looking at you right now...but no, my group and others...we resisted. The other cyan pikmin mocked us and made us slaves, a lower class. We resisted that too, fought back, and know we're in some twisted civil war, because for some twisted reason we're made to eat other pikmin!"

I stopped my next reply and ate my pellet slowly, I was actually beginning to feel bad.

The cyan pikmin looked ashamed too. "I'm sorry. It's just how the other pikmin look at our colour...well it's terrible...and now my friends are dead or _worse_." He shuddered.

"Infected?" I quietly asked. He nodded. The cyan pikmin's mocking attitude had changed to sullen in an instant. "I was an outcast for most of my life," I added.

"How so? You're a blue pikmin..." The cyan inquired.

"I wasn't always, I use to be a mushroom pikmin. I wasn't controlled though as my original host had died. But this puffstool has been causing me quite some trouble, using the spores in my body. The other pikmin didn't exactly trust me because of that..."

"Wait, are you _that _mushroom pikmin?" the cyan inquired.

"_That_ mushroom pikmin."

"The one that attacked the cyan pikmin's camp, to rescue the the other pikmin?"

"I was one of two," I replied, remembering my now deceased friend.

"Our camp has heard about you. You did more than any of us ever could, a full blown rescue, straight into the heart of their base."

I tried to remain modest. "Well you've probably seen a lot of fighting with them as well, I mean you said you're at war."

"Well our tactics our pretty guerilla compared to yours. Almost...cowardly."

"How so?" I asked, but the cyan pikmin didn't reply so I didn't bother pressing on the matter. "There was a reason I went into the cyan pikmin's base, it was really to get one pikmin..."

"A friend?" The cyan asked.

"Yeah, a unique pikmin as well. He was a white pikmin, different from all the others, like me. I guess that's why we got along so well."

"Where is he now."

I breathed. "Dead"

The cyan pikmin said nothing and almost looked downtrodden again. I decided to finish the rest of my pellet in silence. When I was done I stood up again, "Well thank you for everything, I guess I'll be off now, I won't bother you again." I turned to leave, but the cyan pikmin stopped me.

"You're leaving?" The cyan pikmin. "Didn't you hear what I told you about the forest?"

"Yes, but I'm sure I'll be fine, I haven't seen anything yet. The Puffstool can't control all the forest."

"But still, where do you plan on going?"

I had to think about that, because honestly I didn't know. For once, I truly felt alone, no group to argue or agree with, it was just really me. So I lied, sort of: "I want to get out of the forest, and find the Leader."

The cyan pikmin laughed for the first time in a while. "Wow you other colors are behind. You really need to get over serving these Leaders, there really is no benefit when you look at it..."

"Well how about you?" I intervened. "Where are you planning on going?"

The cyan pikmin stopped. "My group is...gone, we relied on each other," he paused and then his somber attitude disappeared. "But I think I can last by myself for a while, this is a cyan's natural habitat after all...I think I can help you though."

I still wasn't sure about the cyan pikmin but I inquired, "Do you know the way out of the forest?"

"Yes, I know the whole place inside out."

I hesitated, "...Okay, you can lead me there then. We'll start tomorrow I guess. And you can have first watch."

"What?"

I gestured to the darkening sky. "I'm tired, going to get some rest. You keep an eye out for any creature's. Signal me half way through the night and then you can get some rest."

"Oh yeah, sure."

* * *

The dreams I had could not be described as dreams at all.

_Dreams of friends dying..._

_Past friends._

_The yellow pikmin._

_The white pikmin._

_They both stood vividly in front of me._

_**Almost real...**_

_And then the puffstool was behind them._

_And with a laugh and shake of it's head, it sent out a vast cloud of spores. engulfing both the white and the yellow._

_And when the spores parted, all I saw where two mushroom pikmin..._

_I was screaming by this time, pounding the groun in agony. As I screamed my blue skin began to rip, revealing one solid colour..._

_Purple._

* * *

_  
_

I had to stop myself from jumping up as I awoke. There was no puffstool in sight of course. Just the trees and the white snow, shining under the dazzle of gems spilled across the sky.

I hoped when I got out of this forest that these dream will stop, but these dreams were real splinters of my past, embedded in my head.

Did I want to get out of the forest though?

Or did I want to kill the Puffstool...

It was clearly responsible for almost all the misery in my life and others. And now it was infecting the forest with the same malice, only widespread.

I've changed though.

Physically.

Mentally.

I've moved on...

I wanted nothing more of that dreaded creature. I needed it out of my life.

I did not want to fight anymore though. No more violence...

Instead I wanted escape.

I sat down on the root of the tree, almost frustrated that these thoughts were interrupting more pressing matters at the moment, and I was still tired.

The cyan appeared from around the side of the tree. "Can't sleep?" he asked. I shook my head. "Well I reckon I still have a bit more time to go for my watch."

"It's okay," I said. "I'll go now."

The cyan shrugged, "alright then."

We exchanged spots, me standing up, the cyan nestling between the roots. He murmured something about how I picked a comfortable spot and then he was asleep.

I sat against the side of the tree wishing that medley of colours I had seen before would ignite the night sky, something to keep me entertained. The sky remained black though, and I quickly grew bored.

The forest was eerily empty, the tall trees stood like vast pillars in the snow, I felt tiny, insignificant...

There was one thing that kept me from falling asleep again. A constant dripping noise, the water droplets only landing a few feet from me. They seemed almost as insignificant as me, but they signaled one important fact. The snow was melting.

Spring was coming.

* * *

The sky was beginning to brighten slowly, the inky black giving way into a shade of blue, and I had counted a thousand four hundred and thirty drips when I finally noticed another entity in the forest.

I recognized it as one of the same species of the creatures I had fought back in the desert very long ago. This one was white though, making it almost invisible. I watched it stumble through the snow, falling over twice. It looked lost.

Something was wrong with it...

I approached the creature cautiously my curiosity overwhelming my general sense of danger.

As I got closer I began to hear some sort of wheezing noise from it, sometimes almost a rasp, almost if there was something stuck in it's throat. I could see the creature more clearly now and it looked like it had not slept in days. It's eyes were bloodshot and unfocused as it stumbled by...not even giving a glance towards me. It's normally round body had developed several unordinary lumps, giving it a deformed look. It's white skin had developed a purplish tinge to it...

I felt a small pressure inside my head, something uncharacterized. I couldn't think clearly, and the pressure increased. I could almost hear a murmuring, fuzzy, incompressible. It was expanding, pushing out all other thoughts...

_You..._

"I wouldn't get near that."

I turned around to see the cyan pikmin standing there. He was gesturing towards the creature. He looked at me again, "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah...fine." I glanced towards the creature. "What's wrong with that thing?"

"It's infected with spores, early stages. Looks like the puffstool is getting creatures now, this one is putting up quite a fight though..."

I felt a chill, the pressure in my head now seemed familiar, but impossible.

I was a blue pikmin now...

"I don't know if it can spread the spores to us yet," the cyan continued. "But better safe then sorry."

I nodded slowly.

"Well we're both awake now," the cyan said. "I guess we can get moving. Here," he handed me another piece of pellet, then began to lead the way through the forest. I followed, trying to drown out the wheezing behind us and the pressure inside my head...

* * *

The sun sprang up from the hidden horizon and was high in the air rather quickly. I could feel it mellow out the cool air as I sensed the forest changing around me.

The dripping was more prominent now, happening at every tree. the cyan seemed a bit wary about the water droplet falling from the sky though, having to dodge a couple along the way. Myself on the other hand, savored every drop that hit me.

It was only inevitable that we finally spotted our first plant. It was growing at the base of the tree, taking shelter from the snow. It's green leaves contrasted against the backdrop of white snow. As we passed by, the cyan ignoring it completely, I noticed something peculiar, unnatural about the plant. Something that didn't belong...

Growing out of the plant's stem, was a mushroom.

* * *

**Thanks for the read and (possibly) the review.**


	19. Truth

**Guess who's back...been a while no big deal. No I wasn't dead, just in a coma...**

**But seriously...**

**I am really, really, fucking sorry.**

**The fact is, this chapter is dedicated to Great Thumbs and Deadly Raptor, for getting me off my ass and holding me at gunpoint in front of a laptop and saying "WRITE!" (Dramatization possibly)**

**Alas, here you go.**

**Disclaimer: Where the hell is pikmin 3?**

**

* * *

**

From our vantage point up on the edge of the cliff, we watched as the wave of mushroom pikmin slowly made its way through the forest.

Though the cyan pikmin and I were safe, I could inevitably see the fear build up in his eyes...and the familiar pressure build up inside my head...

_Resistance...is..._

Masses upon masses of pikmin slowly inched their way through the forest, their progress slowed by the rocky terrain the melted snow gave way to. It was far more pikmin then I had ever seen in my life, all of them one solid colour. That wretched colour...

Purple...

When snow melts it usually unleashes the vibrant palette of colours it has hid under the blinding whiteness for so long. Lush greens and vibrant pinks would sing under the leaf tinted sunlight. But everywhere the mushroom pikmin went, they left the same bruised colour behind them.

Their progress was not going to be unchallenged though, ahead of the massive wave of purple were the cyan pikmin, the cannibal tribe, hastily digging and constructing an elaborate system of trenches. Like the canyons that had tore through the horrid desert from long ago, the trench ripped a barrier through the forest, one that the cyan pikmin hoped to maintain. Their numbers could hardly match the masses of mushroom pikmin, but what they lacked in numbers they made up for in large quantities of bombrocks that were now being distributed amongst the pikmin.

My two most hated enemies, fighting.

The cyan pikmin beside me spoke: "This is the quarantine line that the cyan pikmin are hoping to maintain, anything beyond those mushroom pikmin has probably been heavily spored and infected, even the vegetation. Prolonged exposure to even breathing the air could result in infection."

He seemed right, beyond the army of mushroom pikmin the air seemed fuzzy, distorted and carried a purplish tinge to it. All the plants that lay beyond the quarantine line looked dead, or had been resurrected into a fungi laced version of its previous self.

I glanced back at the two armies again. The mushroom pikmin were sloppy, a wave that was slowed by its own shear numbers, pikmin shambled over each other, any sense of organization that pikmin would have under a leader was not present.

The cyan pikmin now lined up, equally distributed along the trench, each of them had a bombrock curled in its elongated stem, and another in a sling held by their arms. A single flower cyan pikmin stood near the middle of the trench, slightly elevated amongst the rest, and with an arm gesture he gave the command; "Fire!"

First came the bombrocks nestled in the stems, in the span of less than a second all the cyan pikmins whip stems unleashed their deadly projectiles amongst the mushroom pikmin ranks.

To call the first volley devastating would have been a gross understatement. The leading ranks of mushroom pikmin seemed to simultaneously be ripped apart under the sheer force of the explosions. Under the flashes of light and blur of smoke I couldn't make out any intact pikmin. Only shreds of mushroom remained, along with bits of leg and arm with their joints still twitching if they had not been shattered. The ranks behind them did not even flinch as their remaining comrades were torn apart by the second volley of bombrocks from the slings. Shreds of body burst in their unblinking faces as they continued to move forward. Any fluid that had not evaporated in the sheer heat of the explosions drenched the second rank and protected them as they stepped over the charred remains of their comrades.

The second rank drew closer...

Along with half of the first rank...

Anything that still had a half of a face and some sort of limb to propel itself continued to inch its way forward. Mushroom pikmin with no legs, or even worse, no stems, still managed to continue its way toward the cyan pikmin.

They

Did not

Die.

The cyan pikmin beside me didn't seem troubled by this at all. "They've been spored so heavily, pain means nothing to them. They've lost all individuality."

As the smoke cleared, the cyan pikmin in the trenches got the same view. Sensing that their bombrocks were not as effective as originally planned, the cyan commander war had a far more nervous tone as he ordered a second double volley.

Followed by another...

And another...

Fountains of purple fluid and limbs sprayed up through the smoke, nothing was left intact, nothing could survive that.

_Nothing_ could survive _that..._

I found myself saying that out loud...

But as the smoke cleared, I saw the true horror on my face reflected on the faces of the cyan pikmin in the trenches, pikmin that had never felt fear before.

_The mushroom pikmin kept coming..._

And with them came the voice again.

_You can't escape..._

The mushroom's voice...

I found myself screaming. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I'M BLUE NOW, I AM CURED. YOU CAN'T HURT ME ANYMORE! YOU CAN'T...YOU BLOODY CAN'T!"

Neither of the armies heard me over the deafening roar of the explosions as the cyan commander ordered his troops to fire at will. I could sense that that battle was futile but what concerned me was the inevitable battle that was still...STILL... in my head.

"WHY! WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE! IT'S NOT FAIR...IT'S NOT FAIR..."

The cyan pikmin snapped me out of it, "The only way you're going to get rid of that voice is by getting away from that thing. I'll get you out of the bloody forest okay? Now stop your whining and let's go."

Between the dry sobs I stared up at the cyan. "Y-you don't understand, this thing it has taken everything. My friends are dead because of this thing, this thing has destroyed everything I have. I thought I cured myself...I'm not a mushroom pikmin anymore. But the voice, the mushroom's..."

"Puffstool's..." The cyan corrected.

"...it's still here. It still comes to haunt me."

The cyan pikmin paused for a second. "Listen...I...I'm getting out of the forest, and you can come with me or you can stay here and let them voices drive you insane, understand?" With that, he began to walk away.

After a moment to get myself together, I followed.

Behind me, the explosions had stopped.

* * *

I followed the cyan pikmin through a seemingly less infected portion of the forest. The terrain was becoming more into my advantage, less ice for the cyan's claws to grip and more large pools of water collecting under the trunks of trees via the melted snow.

And through the melted snow, new life erupted from the ground.

Unlike the infection spreading beyond the quarantine line now, this area bloomed with a vast spectrum of colours on the palate of various buds that had started to emerge from the ground. Even the once bare stems of trees were now dotted with the occasional magenta of a coming leaf.

I breathed in excitement. "This is what the forest really should be like. All the colours, it truly is stunning...and the mushroom is going to destroy it all."

The cyan pikmin was not as enthused. "Us cyans never liked the warmer conditions, we'll probably travel to colder places, I miss the ice floats. I mean it looks like we've lost the forest anyways."

I was too busy being amazed at what the warmer temperature could bring. How so much life could emerge after such harsh cold was simply remarkable, to overcome the harsh death grip of snow and ice, to triumph. It was a rebirth, a new chance at life...

"You know, this is the first time I have seen a living, breathing forest in a while," I said to the cyan. "It's been too long, first it was that desert. That was nothing but scorched sand for miles and miles. Then right after was this forest, but covered in nothing but snow and ice. Now finally to see other plants again, reclaiming what is rightfully there's...it truly is wonderful."

The cyan pikmin nodded in understanding, something did seem to pass through his thick skull.

As I was starring at him I barely had time to register the rock that flew inches past my face.

Over the crack of splintering wood I heard the cyan pikmin yell, "Get down!"

By the time it took for me to dive down, the cannibalistic cyan pikmin had surrounded us. They came out of nowhere, erupting from the remaining piles of snow on the ground. Suddenly I found myself faced with twenty spears aimed at my head. It was over...

I was heaved off the ground and a whip stem snagged either of my arms, pulling them from my sides and effectively binding me. I could only watch as a cyan pulled up my other friend from the ground, who tried to whip around and attack, but was immediately choked as a whip stem wrapped around his neck...

The cyan pikmin tightened his stem around the fellow pikmin, one of his own colour, before giving a sharp tug. The stem twisted. There was a loud CRACK and my friend went limp under the stem before his lifeless body was thrown the ground.

My cry of anguish was stopped by the blunt end of a spear being rammed into my chest, leaving me breathless. I could only gasp...

Dead...

Just like that...

I stared around in hatred at the pikmin responsible. They had killed their own kind, heartlessly, relentlessly. It was futile though, I was going to be next...

"Lucky for you we want you alive."

I could barely register the words coming from a cyan pikmin. "What-"

Another fistful of spear into my chest interrupted the word. The cyan pikmin responsible snarled in my face, "That wasn't an excuse to talk!" He turned to one of his comrades, "Go inform the tribunal of our capture." He gestured to the cyan pikmin to go to wherever this tribunal was, but quickly stopped.

"No need for that now, I'm already here." The voice came from a new cyan pikmin joining the crowd. A flower crowned this one's stem along with several rings of sharpened bark that hung in loops along the length of it. This gave the cyan pikmin the inevitable look of a leader among the group.

The first cyan pikmin stepped forward. "What about the other members?"

The flower cyan gave an icy reply. "Dead, or probably infected by now. Of course life on the tribunal during such harsh times seems to be quite short lived." There was a hint of satisfaction that melted over the words.

The first cyan pikmin gestured to the lifeless body of my friend. "What about this one?"

The flower cyan didn't give a second look, "Well then, looks like we have dinner."

My body now seethed with rage, my words were venomous. "I'll kill you, I swear on my own body I will kill-."

The flower cyan smiled. "Angry are you? You should be glad we killed him, if only you saw the things we did to those left alive."

"Is that what you plan on doing to me?" I spat.

"Never. Unfortunately you are far too valuable at the moment."

My surprise was only masked by my anger. "Valuable? What makes my flesh more valuable then another you sick twisted...?"

The flower cyan spat in my face, "Such ignorance! If you only knew."

"How's that? How can I be of any value to you?"

"Don't flatter yourself. You're not valuable to us because of yourself personally. What makes _you _so special my blue friend. Is that you _can hear the puffstool inside your head_."

Nothing could mask the surprise this time. "H-how do you know about that?"

The flower cyan's reply was glacial. "The connection with the mushroom?"

"There is no connection! Look at me! I am not a mushroom pikmin anymore!" There couldn't be any kind of a connection. Not anymore. I wouldn't be able to stand it.

The flower cyan sneered, "And that, you idiotic blue, is where you are wrong."

"Enlighten me..."

"Why bother telling you now? All you need to know, is that we're going to fillet your body wide open and harvest that spore out from inside you, before the puffstool can get its hands on it" The flower cyan laughed. "The trouble is keeping you alive the entire time so that the spore will remain intact, but we've got some tools that will help."

I had trouble registering all the information coming to me. A wave of repulsion hit as I grimaced at the thought of a spore still implanted inside my body but priorities are priorities and what these cyan pikmin had in store was certainly not going to keep me at the living end of the spectrum.

I had survived this far now, there was no way I was going to die at the hands of these cannibalistic bastards.

"Shall we bring him back to the primary camp?" A cyan pikmin asked, his whip stem still wrapped around my arm.

The flower cyan shook his head. "No we'll do it here, the scalper shall be present in a few moments."

"Go to hell," I spat.

The cyan holding me spoke again. "Sir, there have been reports of large swarms of mushroom pikmin coming this way, with the quarantine line compromised..."

"WELL MAKE A NEW LINE!" The flower cyan shouted back. "The mushroom pikmin won't get to this place for a while."

"There have also been reports of infected creatures, having drastically increased in numbers..."

"That is why we've deployed the elemental cannons," The flower cyan snapped. "If you do not believe I am leading this colony effectively then I assure you those are the last words you'll ever utter."

"There is no "I", there is a tribunal..."

"_Was_, there _was_ a tribunal," The flower cyan smiled. "But since the other members are dead or worse, I believe that leaves me in charge. Now extracting the spore from this inferior blue here is a priority. If we can control the spore, you fool, we have to potential to turn the entire puffstool's army against itself."

I was becoming more confused by the second, but the argument was buying me some time. Unfortunately I could see no method of escape. Two whip stems on either of my arms tied me in place, and my stem was too short to reach any of the cyan pikmin surrounding me. If I managed to get free I would still have to deal with twenty cyan pikmin armed to the teeth with spears, slings, and bombrocks.

_Found...escape..._

And the voice was back.

But then I thought about what the flower cyan said. This spore inside me, a link to the puffstool...a way to locate me. And possibly something more, the way the flower cyan put it, a method to defeat the puffstool.

For once, I decided to communicate back...

_Hide..._

I'm not hiding.

I am right here.

If I am so valuable, come get me.

I spoke to the pressure inside my head, the proposed location of this remaining spore. It was indescribable, but it seemed to make sense.

And I heard it reply back...

_Found you..._

I was only a matter of time.

The cyan pikmin surrounding the area were looking uneasily out towards the forest. One was squinting, "I can see some near those trees right there..."

Another: "Our bombrocks are pretty much useless..."

"I saw them take my pod-mate. I hope they killed him instead of infe..."

"I can see more! At least fifty!"

"SILENCE! Where's the bloody scalper?" The flower cyan was getting far more impatient. He gestured to another cyan. "Check with the perimeter guards."

At that moment another cyan pikmin came from around the tree to my left. "Perimeter guard here, the scalper...he...he's been taken by...them."

The silence that followed was only interrupted by a dull boom in the distance, presumably from a bomb rock. The flower cyan, not looking at the newcomer spoke, "And you couldn't get there to save him?"

"Sir I-"

_Slash_

The words of the guard were interrupted as the flower cyan, without a word, ripped through the guards throat with one his claws. Fluid gushed out from the open wound, and the guard's body collapsed onto the ground. The cyan pikmin around their leader stepped back a little, fear reflecting in their eyes, either from the insanity that had just occurred or the impending threat of the mushroom pikmin.

"Out of here. Now." The flower cyan spoke quickly, but not quick enough before a mushroom pikmin leapt out from the snow behind him. With a twist, the flower cyan spun around, his stem whipping out to meet the mushroom pikmin in midair, the several sharpened bark rings along the stem slicing through the body. Purple fluid stained the flower cyan's stem as four equal chunks of mushroom pikmin hit the ground around his feet.

Right as several more mushroom pikmin burst out from nowhere.

The cyan pikmin barely had time to raise their spears as several mushroom pikmin flooded into engage. I could feel the whip stems loosen around my arms as the guards hesitated in the correct course of action, to help their comrades or continue to hold me. The decision was moot though as I took the moment to break free from one of the stems. The guard tried to wrap it around me again but I had already used it to grab hold hold of the second stem. WIth a sharp tug, the second guard cried out as he was pulled toward me...

Right into the path of my flower stem. The blow sent the guard sprawling to the ground, and I whipped my stem around back to meet the face of the first guard. Moments later he collapsed onto the ground too.

"No stop him!" It was the voice of the flower cyan, but I was already making my way through several groups of fighting pikmin. I picked up a fallen spear along the way, dodging the whip stem of its previous owner. Looking back I saw the flower cyan also pushing his way through the masses of fighters, his razor bark whip stem spun a whirlwind of severed limbs around his demented, fluid stained, figure.

Dodging the claws of the first cyan attempting to attack me, I quickly countered by impaling him along the length of the spear. Pikmin vs pikmin combat had now become pretty much natural to me, any move that a cyan or mushroom could pull was quickly dodged and fiercely countered with my flower stem.

There was only one of me though, and although the cyans were temporarily engaged with the mushroom pikmin, more cyans were arriving to temporarily stem the unending flow of mushroom pikmin.

Another whip stem. I duck, and follow with a swift uppercut. It was hard to move through the battle, everywhere around me was chaos. To my right a bombrock exploded, sending chunks of pikmin body into the air, filling my eyes with gore. I kept pushing through and finally I found a small open portion of land that was, although littered with bodies, temporarily free of any sort of fighting.

"Keep him alive you fools! I need him intact!" The flower cyan pikmin now had a moment to catch up as the cyan pikmin temporarily gained control of the area. As several cyan pikmin arrived to expand the area of control, the flower cyan faced me single handedly.

"It would be wise if you just gave yourself up now, unless you'd rather go off with the infected," the flower cyan tried to appear unnerved but it was clear in his face that he did not have much time. We both knew it. The mushroom pikmin would keep coming.

"Same goes for you," I countered. "How about we walk away quietly before we're overrun. And then we'll talk."

"You're in no position to say anything," the flower cyan snarled.

"Ah but that's were you're wrong. See, the difference between you and me is that I am actually wanted alive by all parties." Though I still had no idea why. "Meanwhile you, if you don't get out of here soon, are most certainly dead or infected." I prepared myself for the flower cyan to charge me but it didn't come.

There was a rumble from deep below the earth.

Not yet.

The rumble crescendoed into a roar beneath our feet and at that moment the earth ripped open between us, and from it erupted the same beak headed creature that had attacked the blue leader and I.

Almost the same. Now its white feathered head had a deformed, yellowed look to it, its blue scaly body was now bruised with purple, and much of its body was encrusted with mushroom growth. Its eyes were entirely white now, mirroring the vacant stare of a mushroom pikmin.

How could it infect something so massive?

All of the cyan pikmin momentarily ceased fighting to gape at the towering figure of the new creature. The mushroom pikmin barely registered its existence and gained the upper hand on many of the cyans. I took the hesitation to start running again.

The creature emitted a shrill cry before its beak dove down stabbing towards the flower cyan. He barely had time to roll out of the way as the beak speared the through the earth.

"Bomb rock it!" The flower cyan shouted the command as he got back up and immediately gave chase. Despite the appearance of the massive scissor like beak almost impaling him, he was still fixated on me.

Bomb rocks soared over my head presumably towards the monster, but I didn't dare look back. I heard the inevitable blast of the explosion followed by the creature screaming in anguish, but I was too busy dodging my way past cyans, most of them worried about the new threat to register my existence anymore.

There was a loud rumble. "It's gone back under!" I head a cyan pikmin shout. "Focus on the pikmin!"

I breathed a sigh of relief. I had made it past most of the cyan pikmin, and with their primary focus on the mushroom pikmin I might just have a chance to...

The flower cyan pikmin tackled me from behind, arms gripping my torso and causing us both to tumble into the snow. Before I could react I felt the snow underneath us give way, opening up into a massive void in the ground. The cyans arms lost their grip on me and moments later we were both in free fall, I saw the circular opening we had fallen through, a white light in the darkness. Seconds later I slammed into the ground.

I blinked my eyes, allowing them to adjust to the dark. My body ached with pain but nothing felt too severely damaged. I flicked my stem and it shifted. Intact. Arms...also intact, Legs...intact, but I was not going to sit up yet.

Surveying the area around me it was clear to see we had fallen into some kind of narrow sinkhole, perhaps created by the one borrowing-birdlike creature. To my left the tunnel sloped downward into the darkness.

Despite the fall, finding this tunnel was definitely the best luck I've had in a while, it gave me a chance to temporarily avoid the fighting above ground. I wasn't sure if the puffstool would still be able to locate me mentally unless I communicated back, but I assumed I was safe here for at least a short period of time

A groaning noise emitted to my right, the flower cyan was still alive. I squinted and saw his figure still lying on the ground. The bark rings on his stem had backfired and had tore through his body during the fall, leaving several deep gashes. A large amount of fluid had already pooled around his body.

He was muttering inaudibly as I stood up and walked over to him. He wasn't going to put up any sort of a fight. "Can you talk?" I stared down coldly.

"What...does...it...matter..." He choked out.

"Perfect! You can talk and you can't move. I guess that gives me just a bit of an advantage hmm?"

Silence.

"So here's what's going to happen now. I want some damn questions answered, and you're the ideal cannibalistic bastard to answer them." I spat in his face. "The first thing I want to know is everything about this damn spore inside my head."

"To hell with you..." The flower cyan began, but was interrupted as I brought my foot down upon his left arm.

I heard the twig-like snap as the limb broke, followed by the cyan's sentence turn into a scream of anguish.

"I'm not going to bother to ask again," I said calmly. "I'll just let you know that it's going to get far worse for you when I run out of limbs to break."

Silence from the flower cyan.

My foot raised up again, aiming for the other arm...

"OKAY! Okay!" The cyan burst out. "You want to know about the spore, fine..."

"Tell me everything." Finally.

The cyan hesitated. "You clearly weren't originally infected by this puffstool correct?"

"How do you know that?"

"Because it would be able to control you far easier. And you certainly would not have to option to turn yourself blue again. But no, I'm guessing the first puffstool that infected you died, leaving you and whatever other infected pikmin free willed, but still spored."

He had clearly seen this before. "That is what happened."

"And then I am also assuming you were the last mushroom pikmin of that other group, the rest were killed or changed back."

I nodded. "Yes"

"That's when the reaction occurs," he said. "You see the spores planted inside you just aren't inanimate objects, they're direct animate links to the puffstool. Even after the puffstool dies the connection remains among the mushroom pikmin, though not as strong without a central controller. The reaction happens when all the pikmin in the connection are dead except one."

"Myself," I breathed.

"That's right you lucky bastard." The cyan smirked. "When the remaining spore detects no other spores to remain in sync with, it starts to mutate..."

"Into what?"

"A proto-puffstool."

No...

I was changing into one of _those things?_ "Impossible..."

"Entirely possible, and it has happened." The cyan grimaced in pain. "The spore inside you was beginning to transform your body, starting with the mental, but the process takes a while. You changed back to blue before any physical transformations took place but the mutation was too far along for it to be completely destroyed."

"Why would you want this spore then?"

The cyan pikmin gaped. "Are you kidding? Do you realize the power that you potentially possess!" He coughed, and spat out more fluid. "The power to control masses of other pikmin, other _creatures_, to become the single most powerful entity in the forest!"

It made sense for this pikmin to crave that kind of power. I simply felt lucky to have changed blue again before I physically transformed into something as horrific as the puffstool.

"The spore inside you has stopped mutating. You wouldn't be able to infect but you would be able to control others still." The flower cyan's eyes seemed to gleam at the potential idea, I was sickened by it. "That's why the puffstool also wants you, through you it could control even more pikmin and expand its control radius. A puffstool's drones can only go so far from the main host, but with you under its control that radius would double!"

"And how do you know all this?

"We've seen it happen before, to other pikmin. Before those leader's came, more puffstools could infect more independent pikmin. Us cyan pikmin have been craving to get control of one of these spores, it's been futile...so far." The cyan looked hungrily at me, good thing it was badly wounded.

It all made sense now. After the initial shock though, an idea began to form in my head, right alongside the spore implanted there.

"So with this spore," I asked. "I could potentially seize control from the puffstool?"

"I doubt it," The cyan scoffed. "The spore in your head is from another puffstool, this infection is from entirely different host, which means a different network. Besides you'd be far too weak to gain any kind of control."

This time I smirked, before grabbing a tree root and starting to climb out of the hole and back to the surface. I had heard enough.

The flower cyan shouted up at me. "That's it! You're just going to leave me here?"

There was a rumbling noise, something else was traveling through the tunnel

I didn't bother to look back. "As far as I'm concerned you're as worst as the bloody puffstool. But if I'm feeling merciful when I get to the surface, I'll toss you a limb to gnaw on. Got to keep the pikmin flesh craving up eh?"

The rumbling grew louder, the cyan didn't even have time to reply. As I reached the surface of the hole I looked back down and saw the snake like body of the beak headed creature stream by through the tunnel. One second the flower cyan was lying on the ground. The next second the scissor beaks had scooped him up as the rest of the creature's body swept through the tunnel at an astonishing speed.

He was dead.

And soon all the other cyans would be. I could care less though. I just breathed the fresh air.

For the plan in my head had formed into a coherent idea.

Inhale.

Not just an idea.

Exhale.

A solution.

For the first time in my life I felt empowered, felt like I had I had a destiny.

A fate.

That all the suffering, all the horrors I endured could be compromised.

That for all my friends who had suffered. Who had died. There was an opportunity to pay tribute to them all.

Just one.

A single chance.

But one was enough.

One was enough, because that is all it takes to justify your existence.

I did not think at all about my chances of failing. The idea of failing never hit my mind.

There was not going to be an if.

Nor a try.

I had the power to.

I could kill it.

I would kill it.

The puffstool _would _die.

At my hands.

And then life could have its way with me.

But not now.

Not yet.

Now, I simply headed deeper into the forest. Past the the failed quarantine line. Into the infection zone.

Towards the mushroom itself.

**Thanks for the read and the potential review hehe.**

**We'd also love it if you could join us at the official Spored forum located in the pikmin section. Listen to DSPR and Deadly Raptor debate about something and Thumbs and myself make the occasional comment!**

**Fun guaranteed.**

**Also minor contest here, I really hate the description for this story now. "What is his fate?" ooohhhh who cares. So if someone wants to put up a better description in their review, and if I choose said description they'll get an advance preview of the next chapter (which will be out before the next solar eclipse, no seriously, by March)**


	20. Fate

**Thank you to all those for submitting ideas for the description. I sort of blended them together to create the final one.**

**And thank you to all my readers. I am sorry again for the hiatus.**

**Here we go.**

**

* * *

**

I was walking through a dream

The world around me was unfamiliar. Alien. Everything was shown through a lens of haunting violet. The air itself was hazy, as if I was underwater in a sea of purple. The spores themselves were trying to drown me, make me lose myself so I would never wake up.

Night had fallen and the primary source of colours came from the beautiful cataracts of light that cascaded through the vast sky above me. They blazed across the inky backdrop in constant flashes of dance, dipping, soaring and rushing past the thousands of gems.

Around me various plants glowed purple as they hung limply in defeat. Almost all of them had mushrooms tearing through their skin, entwining others with their long stems.

Normally the forest at night would be plunged into darkness, but instead it was dimly lit by neon patches of indigo that sparkled like beacons through the hazy air.

The air itself was almost impossible to breath. I found myself moving from pool to pool of melted snow, immersing my body into the cool liquid, letting my gills breathe via the fresh untainted water. It slowed my progress, but I was in no rush...

I knew exactly where to go.

The pressure in my head slowly expanded with each step towards the puffstool. A sure sign of inevitable doom. But my plan would work. It would have to work.

This could not all be for nothing.

Many times the pressure would suddenly explode into a piercing headache. Many times I found myself clutching my stem in agony, rolling on the ground, screaming for my life. Many times I thought I would die right there.

But after many terrifying moments it would go away, and I would continue on my journey.

Alone.

Never more in my life had I wished for a friend to be beside me than right now. Thoughts of the white pikmin, the yellow budded pikmin, the fellow mushroom pikmin, even the cyan pikmin flashed through my head. I saw my best moments with each of them, and the puffstool echoed each thought with something worse...

The white pikmin and I using the sling together...

_The white pikmin's body tumbling off the cliff beside me_

The yellow pikmin and I successfully warding off cyan after cyan...

_The look of shock on the yellow's face as a spear burst through his chest_

The mushroom pikmin and I rescuing our friends from the cyan camp

_The mushroom pikmin crying in agony as he ended his own life_

_ Your friends are dead..._

_ And now you foolishly come to me_

_Towards your own doom_

"Towards your death," I replied back. "And only yours..."

I even remembered the blue budded pikmin. Back when I was with the leader, how he had tried to befriend me on that fateful day.

In my mind I saw the last image that had happened before I was spored. Before my life had been changed forever.

Clear as a water droplet.

The blue budded pikmin trying to reach for me...

And what if he had? How different my life would have turned out. How much less suffering I would have had to endure. How I would not be walking through this very forest right now. To confront the antagonist of my life.

I don't want to be alone anymore. Never again. I need a friend, someone to experience life with me. Someone who can help me escape from the suffering that has occurred.

Not just even one friend. A community. A whole group of us. Together pikmin are stronger, together we can create a little patch of paradise in this cold, heartless world.

Until then, it was time to test the powers of a single pikmin. What only one could do. Alone. To try and grasp victory when more powerful creatures had failed, when even a whole army of cyans was futile.

Alone...

I saw a massive version of one of the red and white creatures that had attacked me in the desert. Its eyes were glazed, its hide tinted violet and mushrooms had begun to spring from its back. The ground shook from its footfalls as it walked around in confusion, the infection had not fully assimilated it yet. Repeatedly it shook its massive head, as if hoping something would fall out.

I was forced to hide behind a fallen log as another creature of the same species thundered by, this time much closer to me. This one had been far more heavily spored. Its hide was completely bruised purple, its white eyes had no traces of pupils in them at all and its back had been completely encrusted with large mushrooms.

The absence of mushroom pikmin was surprising. The forest was completely devoid of them, blanketing the area not only with spores but also with an empty void of silence.

If the puffstool had wanted to attack me. To capture me. It could've done so easily by now.

But there was nothing.

The truth was the puffstool was curious. It was maliciously wondering why I was so easily turning myself over to its grasp. Allowing myself to be assimilated and to help expand its vast infection.

_Hopeless_

_ Alone_

_ Futile_

The puffstool's voice dripped with hunger. The thought of turning the whole forest into a fungi drenched, violet hazed world fueled its anticipation.

Ahead of me was a soft bubbling noise. As I approached I saw the source was a thin stream that curved its way around the trees. It gradually grew bigger as it collected snow and was deep enough for me to swim underneath the surface.

I gratefully immersed myself into the pure water, the coolness was a welcome relief. My arms and legs relaxed as I let the current take me deeper into the forest. My gills expanded in delight at the fresh contrast of this water to the intoxicating air.

Eventually I would have to surface.

I could feel the pressure in my head expanding exponentially now. The puffstool's voice wormed into my head, threading through my thoughts, corrupting my emotions.

And then I knew it.

I rose up from the stream and clambered onto the banks, shuddering as my gills dealt with the change of air. It was even worse here.

I looked ahead of me to see a large circular structure. It didn't belong to the forest due to its metallic design, but the structure itself was ancient. Over time though the forest had taken its rightful area back. Plants and vines crept over a surface corroded by rust. But even the plants themselves were being attacked by the puffstool's spores now. Now they were all an ugly violet and covered with fungi.

It was inside it.

It was waiting.

This was it.

As I walked towards the structure, towards the puffstool, I could sense the presence of many mushroom pikmin looking at me over the rim of the structure.

All of them silent.

Yet there was noise.

A buzzing of anticipation.

Not only in my head, but around me. Surrounding me. Enveloping me. Drowning me as it grew in climax.

Grew as I approached the only entrance the structure had; a single rusted archway. Grew as I stepped through it.

Where there had been a roof, there now only remained a few shards of transparent material. They stuck to edges of the roof, glistening against the ripples of light that ignited in the night sky far above.

The side of the structure curved around to form a complete circle and was broken into multiple tiers. On all of these tiers were vast numbers of mushroom pikmin. All of them completely still.

All eyes on me.

And right in the middle of this makeshift kingdom. This rusted arena. This final stadium to decide all things...was _it..._

The Puffstool.

If it could be called_ that_ anymore.

It had grown immensely in size. Swelled up into something far more terrifying. What had once been one simple mushroom now had mutated into something indescribable. From its primary cap several other stacks of fungi boiled out, churning and growing over each other into some immeasurably complex shape. From there sprouted out even more mushrooms and among these long, twisting chimneys that constantly sent out spores into the air. No traces of its initial yellow colour remained. Now it had taken on a demented reddish-violet tinge.

This is it

This is happening

Now

The Puffstool speaks. Its words reverberate with energy, building like a wave, as they are echoed again and again by the mushroom pikmin.

_"There is no need to prolong any longer. Alleviate suffering, end your pain...submit and join usssssssssssssssssssssss..."_

The pressure in my head explodes again and again with each syllable uttered. It's nearly impossibly to keep upright.

The overlapping echoes of the mushroom pikmin causes the words to chaotically jumble into each other. Soon the Puffstool's phrase is indistinguishable.

"_Prolong...suffer...join...need"_

I can't do this.

But I'll try. I try and speak but all that comes out is. "...lies..."

_"There are no lies. There is no truth. There is only the inevitable..."_

The connection between the Puffstool and myself grows immeasurably. I can feel the tendrils of its mind pushing into my head, reaching for the spore. I try to fight back, I try to push its hold away.

It's too powerful.

But its spores are different than mine.

It may be able to influence me, reach into my mind, but it can never fully control me.

And I will be too futile, too weak.

Unless...

Unless we're the _same._

Two mushroom pikmin grab my weakened form, pulling me up roughly from the ground. I don't struggle as they drag me closer to the demented form of the puffstool. I don't attempt to hit them with my stem as I am thrown onto the ground again...

This has to happen.

There is no time to think about the possibility of being wrong...

The puffstool's massive body seizes up, contorting. A grotesque form of inhale.

I seize up myself. This is the moment. The leap of faith. Whatever happens...

I _have _to stay in control.

The puffstool exhales, spores erupt from its bloated hide, an all engulfing cloud of purple sweeps towards my frail body.

I _have _to fight it!

The cloud engulfs me, and my body begins to spasm uncontrollably. I watch through my hazed vision as every inch of my blue body, every inch that I have fought for rips away to reveal a demented purple. My stem droops at the extra weight as my flower wilts away into a mushroom.

But even as my blue form decays, my mind suddenly erupts with energy.

As my vision goes dark, something even more powerful blooms inside my head.

_I can feel them_

Every single mushroom pikmin that surrounds me. And every single infected creature and plant that lies in the forest beyond.

I am in the middle of a web, a web glistening with potential. Every single entity that has been infected, every last one, are now strung together like numerous threads inside my mind...

Ignited by the revamped spore inside my head.

The power is immense. I can immerse myself into it...

I can CONTROL

But the Puffstool...

The Puffstool is an event horizon. Every thing in this mental web is drawn to it. The sheer gravity of the Puffstool's power draws everything into it.

In this dimension, the Puffstool dominates

And I am nothing

And now it sends its full force onto me. Pulse after pulse of mental energy rips through my own head. With each one, there is a command that follows.

Obey

Submit

Crumble into dust

With each one, I convince myself to fight back.

I have the element of surprise. The Puffstool believes I'll succumb instantly. It expects full control. What it gets instead is flame of mental energy from my own mind.

The Puffstool recoils from the blow, and for once I dig into its mind. Tunnel through that monster's thoughts corroded with corruption and greed...

I escape my body. Just my mind, just for a moment, and fly into the Mushroom's...

Before the Puffstool's mind blasts me out again, and suddenly there is no sense of self...

No sense of I...

I just am...

Fighting something else in this new disturbing dimension.

Fighting for power, control...

It is impossible to say how long I was in this state. Time doesn't exist here...

It may have been seconds

Or an infinite number of days

Simply forever

The brief advantage I had over the Puffstool is gone, and now we constantly blast at each other.

Again and again.

But it's far from an equal fight.

With each blast, I lose more sense of self. With each blast, a fragment of my mind rips away. With each blast, I fall deeper into something beyond the realm of sanity.

With each blast, I realize that the Puffstool is winning...

And I am shattering into nothingness.

Into just another mindless drone

And that I _just don't have it_

As I desperately try to rip through the Puffstool's defenses with all I have, the Puffstool is gathering its own energy, brewing it together like a massive storm. It is immeasurably powerful.

And when it releases it, the power crushes me like a surge of fire, and slams me back into my own conscience. I am back into my own body now. Everything feels fuzzy, slow and incredibly heavy.

I try to fight back, but the Puffstool's willpower now smothers me under layers and layers of force. I'm drowning in my own subconscious.

_Obey_

I try to resist...

_Submit_

I try to breathe...

_Inevitable_

I...

The Puffstool...is right...

I've been...wrong...

I

...

Need

...

To

...

Submit

...

And find solace

...

And join..

...

...the cause

...

_Lies_

_ ..._

No more lies, no more truth, just the inevitable

...

...

I was a fool

...

...

...

...

...

No...

...

Remember...

...

The White pikmin...

...

Your friends

...

_Are dead_

...

NO

...

I can't

...

I won't

...

I need

I must

I have

To win

To kill

Kill it

...

KILL IT

...

KILL IT!

With more force than I thought possible, I destroy the Puffstool's willpower over me. I snap the tendrils of its own twisted mind and send it back into its own deformed body.

Rising from the depths to surface into my own free conscience, into my own body, I return to the physical surface for a moment...

I am alive.

I am free.

Still in the arena, my new mushroom pikmin body rugged with fatigue. And the Puffstool remains...

And I _will _win.

I give the Puffstool a look of disgust and then I am plunged back below the depths as the Mushroom locks its mind with mine yet again.

And again, I am simply not a pikmin anymore. I am a force. Fighting for power, domination, control.

This time though, I divert my attention away from the Puffstool. Instead I drive my focus along the other various strands of the web, into the mushroom pikmin watching from the side.

The sheer quantity of minds in one space is overwhelming. Unlike the Puffstool's conscience, they don't resist. They are empty voids, waiting to be filled.

Where there used to be self-consciousness in these pikmin there are now simply just spores.

A nothingness...

But...

But this sense of self. It wasn't destroyed. It was just pushed back deep enough. If I can access it...

With a surge of alarm the Puffstool takes notice of what I am doing. In a wave of relief for myself, it takes its pressure off of me and instead starts to spread its willpower into its vast network of pikmin...

Just as I unlock several of the pikmin's self consciousnesses.

I am suddenly flooded with several new pulses of information. This web is not composed of mushroom pikmin anymore, I can see past the purple cloud. Instead I see a full spectrum of pikmin spark up. Pikmin that used to be red, yellow, or blue like me!

With a rush of power, the Puffstool sweeps his infection throughout the web yet again. Its voice booms like thunder in this mental realm.

"_You are nothing..."_

"NO!" My voice shatters the gravity of the Puffstool's power again. The tendrils, the mental links that connect us all, shiver as if in anticipation.

"_But together...join me..."_

_ "_Resist it!"

"_Alone you are worthless...but together we can be..."_

"You are NOT worthless! You are NOT drones! You are Pikmin!"

In the real world, there is a stir among the mushroom pikmin...

_"Turn to me..."_

"Turn to each other! Your friends! Your allies! Help me!"

"_He is a traitor to our cause...he will only lead you to death."_

"No!"

One of the mushroom pikmin who had succumbed to the Puffstool's will comes charging towards me. With a swift uppercut from my mushroom, I send it flying backwards. I see it flinch in pain.

It _can _feel..

"NO!"

What was once merely a stir, now becomes a whisper among the ranks. A whisper of mutiny. My connection with the Puffstool picks up an alien presence starting to emanate from the Mushroom.

It is the presence of fear...

Instead of letting the pikmin's memories flood into me I change the current and let my memories flow into them. All my experiences. All the horrors I have witnessed. With each experience there comes a single emotion.

Just one.

Hate.

My hatred for the Puffstool seethes through my body. And now I let it openly channel into the other pikmin. I can feel the Mushroom desperately try to sever the web from me, stop this new rage from arising.

It's futile.

Emotion is simply one more promise that the Puffstool cannot give. Emotion is something far more multi-faceted than what the Puffstool can conjure up.

Against emotion, the Puffstool is powerless.

A shade of grey against a spectrum of colour. Something beyond description, something beautiful.

And I continue to inject hatred into the minds of the pikmin.

Their pupil-less eyes snap from my body, to the disgusting, bloated mass that is the Puffstool.

"_Do not turn turn down immortality..."_

The Puffstool tries to speak, but its words are futile ripples in the churning sea of anger that is rising.

The Puffstool tries to regain control over its army, but the pikmin are with me now. The Puffstool is merely full of empty promises.

And now it finally feels what I have been feeling almost my entire life.

Isolation

To be cut off from the world.

I've done it.

With his army turned against him, without anyone to do his bidding, the Puffstool is merely another creature to kill. And like any cornered beast, the Puffstool tries to attack.

With a massive dip of its head, the multiple tendrils of fungi that lay atop its capped top whip out towards me...

Just as I give the order.

Just as all the pikmin in the arena swarm the Puffstool, collapsing upon its deformed body like an avalanche. They cover its body like blisters.

I can hear the Puffstool screaming inside my head.

I ignore its futile cries and send out a single pulse to the other mushroom pikmin. In reply to the signal all the mushroom pikmin, in one brutal movement, slam their stems into the Puffstoool's hide.

Another pulse.

SLAM

Again

And again

With each beat, the Puffstool's screams are reduced to animalistic yelps. Short and staccato. A call and response to the pain. And with each beat, it starts to fade away.

Dying...

But not dead

Drunk with power I save the last blow for myself.

As I step onto the Puffstools deflated body, I can feel it shudder beneath me. A single halfhearted sob. I don't care though. I approach one of the ugly creature's crooked eyestalks. I can here one more screech of pain as I grasp my hands around the eye stem...

And pull.

And rip it clean from the Puffstool's body, leaving milky yellow fluid to froth from the wound. The stem itself spasms twice before going limp.

The spasm is echoed by the entire body. And then it too goes limp.

Whatever dim power it had left on the mental web suddenly winks out. And with it a great fatigue settles over me.

It's...it's dead

What was once a living, breathing monstrosity corrupting the forest is now simply a decaying pile of waste.

There is nothing left of its presence on the mental web, that is now an empty void. The power is all mine now.

I look at vast number of mushroom pikmin surrounding me. I am the new Puffstool to them. I am their leader now.

To be a leader. To control...

But

I can't. To become like _that thing_.

But the power...

No

The spore inside me won't win

I can see the true colours of each of the mushroom pikmin. They deserve better. They deserve a life blooming with emotion. With the freedom to choose, to thrive, to cooperate. To face the horrors of the world and to smite them down all together.

I can give them that.

I plunge into the web. The delicate string of mental connections. I focus on one single thread between myself and a mushroom pikmin. With my conscious, I put some pressure on this tiny connection. My head spams in pain, the spore inside me needs these threads.

I greatly exert far more pressure and the thread snaps. My head roars with agony. That is the price for giving a single pikmin free will. A sense of self.

I have to do this.

This time I gather multitudes of threads, with my conscious. Bunch them together in my mind.

Snip

And my head erupts again. The spore and I are almost a single entity now, everything we feel will be together.

I can't stop though.

Not now.

I work in a frenzy, snapping connections like limbs. For each one the spore in my head explodes like a bomb rock.

It's going to kill me...

My vision swims in a dark crimson. My mind feels shattered. Everything is distorted.

I have to help them.

I can't do it anymore.

...

Just once more. That's all I have. That's all I can take.

I gather the remaining connections I have with all of the mushroom pikmin. There is no more web, just a single thick thread that needs to be severed.

If I sever it I may die. The spore will wither away, and I might just go with it.

But save hundreds.

I look around at the mushroom pikmin. Stare into their blank, white eyes. I remember the joys of having a self.

And with this thought...I snap the connection.

With what vision I have left, I see all the mushroom pikmin around me perk up in self awareness. Something comes alive in all of them. Something beyond description. And even in this moment of unbearable pain, this thought that I have saved so many gives me solace.

Solace that is far greater than the pain.

And then everything goes black.


	21. Spring

**Final Chapter**

**It's been an amazing experience writing this story. And I want to thank everyone who has had the patience to stick with it until the end. **

**Thank you for all of your reviews. And thank you to everyone who put it on their favourites: ashpokeball, Black Murder Heavangelon, Bonsley67, Calderious, danielns13, Deadly Raptor, Devil's Sunrise, Diabowserker, DJtheHedgehog, dragonheart93, duke of awesome, Elegant Release, Ferahgo the Assassin, Gingerstar, girl-hatake95, Great Thumbs of Wisdom, H2Obelow0, hamhamhaha, Juffo-Wup, KJ Foxx, KJman456, Kostya Razrushityel, Lanny-Sama, Leader of Talking Palm Trees, MariomasterDT, markman 1111, Midnighter67, Mr. Pichu, mukurin, Multiversity, olimarioshi, PenWraith, podso38, Pokemon Nerd, ramenblitz, rampaging-poet, Sentimental Semantics, Shika1929, smileyface120, Sugarette, The Last Invisible Pikmin, The Silent Knight, TheMarioMarioFan, TheRamificator, Thug Lucas, Titan Class X, tobi number1 fan, ToffeeFlavouredClosetRomantic, TokoWH, VampireElder, xXThunderflameXx, Yammer, Yoshi The Blue**

**(I hope that I didn't forget anyone) **

**Special thanks to all the regulars on the Spored forum who kept bugging me to keep writing this story as well. **

**It would be nice to hear a final review, for the story as a whole (maybe get up to 200 haha). And if you have any questions, you can visit the Spored forum as well in the Pikmin section. Now that the story is over I can release some fun easter eggs about it (like how the Titan Dweevil is hinted at twice in the story)**

**But without further ado. **

**Thank you.**

* * *

Existence comes slowly

First comes the feeling of my alignment. A horizontal posture. I am lying down.

Then the feeling of my body parts slowly return to me. My stem, my arms, my legs, all of them are nestled amongst something cool, gritty. Something that sifts and parts among them like water.

Dirt.

Part of the earth.

The feeling of cool is quickly contrasted by a gentle taste of warmth along my face. A certain type of warmth that can only be provided by one thing.

The sun.

The heat begins to melt every last numb sensation from my body.

I test my arms

They move

I test my legs

They shake

I test my stem

It waves

I open my eyes

_They see_

See a vast blue tapestry above. Endless, infinite, perplexing. Perfected by the glowing yellow sphere that radiates with more energy than I have ever witnessed.

A yawning sensation. It dawns on me.

Alive

I am alive

I glance down, and my body brims with a new type of joy as I discover it is a perfect mirror of the sky above.

Both are a stunning blue.

And on my stem, as I droop it over my head to see it with my own eyes, is a flower. Ivory white petals surround my own stunning sphere of yellow.

To my further amazement, I discover that while there is white on my flower, there is no more on the ground.

The snow is gone.

And what replaces is a vast aura of colour. One that drenches the forest into a new type of beauty.

The lush, rich greens of leaves crown the many branches of the tree tops. Other trees are adorned with the blazing hues of both fuchsia and indigo.

More greens have ripped through the brown dirt. Blades of grass wave gently in the wind, the stems of vermillion flowers glow with a new type of energy under the sun.

The colours are all around me, surrounding me, enveloping me with their entire spectrum. Searing reds meddle with rich turquoise.

It is vivid.

And it is all breathing with life.

The scars of last night still remain. The rusted, crumbling walls of the arena still corrode the area, as well as what remains of the decayed body of the Mushroom. But all these minor discrepancies are unmatched, unmatched a hundred times by the sheer glory that has sprung up in the spores absence.

Without the spores, nature has thrived to its absolute best. No longer do I have to witness endless stretches of desert, frozen wastelands, or toxic covered forests. Instead I can now finally see everything at its full potential.

Encircling the ground around me are hundreds of white flowers. Flowers like mine, each with their own miniature suns at the centre.

Pikmin

They lie entrenched in the ground, waiting to be pulled out. To begin again.

Reds.

Yellows.

Blues, matching me.

Even cyans.

I don't see any enemies among them.

All I see is potential friends.

A chance for us to unite.

I ignore the potential hardships that will come, the gruesome battles against numerous creatures that may ensue, and the harsh nights.

After what I've experienced, it all seems trivial.

And as I go to pluck the first pikmin stem, I realize that some other part of me has changed as well.

As my hands wrap around the yellow stem, I experience a different sensation. My mind leaves my head, exits through my hands and I can _feel_ the pikmin. Feel his body contoured amongst the soil, amongst the hundreds of other pikmin bodies.

I can sense them all.

Feel what they feel.

Another dawning occurs to me.

_The spore..._

I retreat inside my head. Trying to find what must be the source of this newfound power, the very thing that let me destroy the puffstool in the first place. The thing that let me control.

But...

But it isn't there. My mind is my own. The spore is absent, but what remains is not its power to control but to simply...feel.

To observe.

And with this fact, I let my mind expand once more.

Past the pikmin, past the rusted arena.

Into the trees.

Suddenly I am the trees. Suddenly I am massive. I can soar up through the trunk, through the ancient bark, into the branches.

The change of perspective is simply breathtaking.

I can feel the leaves...

I _am_ the leaves.

The sunlight glistens on me, and I soak it up hungrily. Feel it radiate on my thin body. I am closer to the infinite blue sky than I have even been.

I dive again, down this time. Down into the ground where the tree's roots are, where they spread into a vast underground network, searching for water. Constantly digging deeper and deeper into unseen depths.

I surface.

I leave the tree.

I become a berry, ripened at the tip of a flower, ready to be plucked.

I become a blade of grass. A simple stem with nothing to crown it, letting the breeze tilt me.

I become everything that exists in the forest. Individually, one by one.

I become myself.

I am not sure how long it takes for me to finally return to my own body.

Hours?

Days?

But it feels like returning to that trustworthy shelter. To that onion that I lived in so long ago when with the leader.

It feels like home.

And soon I will pluck the rest of the pikmin from the ground, and together we will face the next section of life to confront us. Together we will endure all of what nature can throw at us.

But for now, I simply sit among the flowers and relish the simple, sweet thought that for the first time in my existence; my body, my future...

My life...

Are all in my hands. All my own.

And now I can truly appreciate what it means to have all of this.

_Inhale_

To be self-aware

To have emotion

To laugh

To cry

To hate

To love

_Exhale_

To live

**The End.**


End file.
